


Generals of Grimm

by Punisher143



Series: Generals of Grimm [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Explicit Language, Gen, Grimm RWBY AU, Maybe a little more than that actually, Team STRQ has an unhappy past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:26:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 174,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21925141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Punisher143/pseuds/Punisher143
Summary: The fight against the Creatures of Grimm took a dangerous turn once the Generals entered the fray. Now that they are caught in their sights, the lives of Team STRQ are going to get far more complicated and deadly. (Grimmed!RWBY AU)
Series: Generals of Grimm [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1579060
Comments: 3
Kudos: 18





	1. Prologue - The Generals

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks are needed to Dishwasher1910 for creating the set of 'Grimmed RWBY' drawings that inspired this story.

_When I was little, I always loved hearing stories about heroes. These amazing people who strived to be more than they thought they could be for the sake of everyone around them, regardless of what happened to them. I wanted more than anything to be like them; fight giant monsters, save people in need, to have my name go down in history as one of the greatest._

_Now I’m not naïve enough to know that happy endings rarely happened to these heroes. Death and early retirements from loss of limbs were more common than what fairy tales would say. Then there are the ones who fell from grace, either through madness or something far worse._

  
_I wonder what happened to those ones? After all, the greatest heroes fallen could become the deadliest of foes. Hopefully I’ll never meet someone like that._

* * *

Sometimes Ruby likes to remember the old days, when her life was so much simpler; Killing the Creatures of Grimm, protecting her kingdom and people, remembering her teammate’s birthdays. Things were so much simpler back then, before all of this.

 _‘Well, I guess it’s not much different today,’_ she thought as she heard people screaming to her right. The village was being attacked by Grimm, so here she was. Without much thought she ran ahead, her scythe dragging behind her. One last corner and she saw a group of people running from a trio of Beowolves, the group stopping when they saw her. She hefted her scythe on her shoulders and advanced to her enemies.

 _‘I wonder how Mom would feel seeing me like this?’_ She wondered as she swung her scythe through one of her enemies, the top half falling neatly from the bottom. _‘Proud, horrified, disgusted?’_ A few spins and another’s arms were sliced clean off before being vertically bisected, barely enough time to feel the pain. _‘I guess it doesn’t matter what she would think. I hardly knew her when she was around and this is who I am now.’_

The last of them fell backwards, raising a hand feebly to try and stop her. “P-please, don’t-!” He tried to say just a Ruby beheaded him swiftly. The Beowolves growled and advanced on the corpse at Ruby’s feet.

“No,” Ruby said glancing at the Grimm, the creatures stopping in their tracks, “We’re not here to feed, but to kill.” She raised her scythe to point down a path, “The town’s hall is that way. Break the doors, kill everyone inside. You’ll have your fill when the village is dead.” The Grimm growled and ran down the path Ruby had pointed, fully intent on following the new orders.

Ruby sighed and ran a hand down her head, the cold metal of the gauntlet feeling somewhat nice against her skin. At first, she had wondered if her skin, now forever tainted porcelain white, would ever be able to feel anything again. She soon learned that the only thing she could feel was cold and the small bits of pressure when something pressed on it. Even then, the cold was starting to dull into nothingness. Pleasure and Pain were something she’d never feel again.

She glanced down at the villager she had just killed and picked up his head to look at his eyes. “Green. Maybe the rumor was wrong.” Ruby shook her head and threw the head away. With a sigh she swung her scythe, the blood flying off the blade onto a nearby wall, and continued on her path.

“Like mother would ever have an opinion on me. She died long ago.” More screams in the distance, the fear radiating from the villagers drawing Ruby like a moth to flame. A General’s work is never done.

* * *

Weiss Schnee was cursed. She had been aware of something like that for the longest time, but it was only a few days ago she realized just how utterly cursed she was. As she walked through the halls of her family’s home, she felt the familiar chill that only she had been able to feel. Neither her father, mother, nor Winter or Whitley knew this cold, only Weiss.

She passed by one of the many statues that adorned the hallways, depicting the goddess that her mother had worshipped once. That was before she had decided that wine was a better idol, though the few occasions where Weiss had seen her mother she still stopped at every one. Weiss stopped in front of one, the regal stance of the goddess perfect for the Schnee halls. The high ponytail, armored arms, fine combat dress, and rapier planted blade first in the base of the statue was both powerful yet graceful.

Weiss shivered and thought, for just a moment, that the statue’s eyes were following her. She quickened her pace in the hopes of getting to her room and away from the statues before one of them actually _did_ look at her.

After a few nerve-wracking moments Weiss was close to her room, feeling a small wave of relief when she saw Klein standing in front of it. The butler jumped just a little when Weiss approached him, though he quickly regained his composure and turned to her.

“Good afternoon Lady Weiss,” Klein said giving Weiss a small bow. Weiss hardly had to glance at his eyes anymore to know ‘Doc’ was talking. “I hope the day finds you well.”

“About the same as always,” Weiss replied sadly. All her life Weiss had never been allowed to leave the Schnee manor grounds unless it was for recitals or social functions. It was the one thing that her mother and father agreed on, ‘Because it was too dangerous for you to leave,’ they said. They never did clarify _who_ it was dangerous for. Weiss glanced down at Klein’s hands and saw a manila folder and asked, “Is that from father?”

“Oh, yes, it is,” Klein held out the folder, which Weiss took and carefully leafed through. “The song you’ll be singing for tomorrow’s concert. Sir Jacques wanted to be sure you were ready.”

“Of course he does.” At the very least Weiss recognized the song, one that she had sung by herself since she started singing. “I was just going to get some practice in, so this works out. I’ll be ready for tomorrow.” Weiss shut the folder and looked up at Klein, his yellow eyes meeting her blue.

“Are you alright little snowflake?” He asked voice heavy with concern. “You seem more distraught today.”

“I’m just tired Klein. I’ll get some rest after practice.” She hated lying to Klein of all people, but the butler had enough on his plate without having to worry about Weiss’ delusions. The butler looked at Weiss for a few more seconds before smiling gently.

“How about I make you your favorite lunch little snowflake. Will that lift your spirits?”

“…Yes, that actually would help.”

“Then it’ll be ready in an hour.” Klein blinked his eyes and he was back to business as usual ‘Doc’ as he straightened up and cleared his throat before walking down the hall. Weiss let a smile break onto her face as she watched Klein walk down the way Weiss had come to the kitchen, passing by a statue before turning the corner.

 _‘Wait, was that statue always there?’_ The smile dropped and Weiss rushed into her room, her panic gripped mind telling her that locking the door would keep her safe. Once the door was locked Weiss pressed her back to it, folder clutched to her chest, and started taking deep breaths to calm down. _‘It’s just a statue Weiss. They can’t hurt you, even if they look like they will. Just calm down.’_

One more breath and her heart was calm enough for her to get off the door and walk to the middle of her room. Weiss looked around for the sheet stand she used for practice and found it right next to the full mirror on the wall… which she was certain she threw out the day before last. Her fingers gripped the folder tighter as she walked over to it, deliberately looking away from the mirror as she took the stand and moved it to the middle of the room facing away from the mirror.

Weiss took the lyrics sheet from the folder and arranged them on the stand, though she didn’t really need them to sing the song. _‘Mirror Mirror… Mother used to sing this to me when I was young. I used to love looking at myself in the mirror, imagining myself as all kinds of different people. Now…’_ Weiss reached a hand up to her face, stopping just short of touching the scar on her left eye. She hadn’t done anything to earn the scar, it had just appeared one morning with blood running down it. That was the first sign to Weiss that something was very wrong.

 _‘No, just sing Weiss. Forget the world and your troubles, and just sing.’_ Weiss shut her eyes, imagining herself on stage with the orchestra playing, and started singing.

_“Mirror, tell me something… tell me who’s the loneliest of all.”_

This song more than any other spoke to Weiss, because deep down she knew that she was the loneliest person on the planet. Who else could be going through what Weiss was?

_“Mirror, what’s inside me? Tell me, can a heart be turn to stone?”_

She had first noticed it when she was a little girl, maybe around seven or eight. It was just a small voice offering encouragement or advice every other day. She had thought that it was just an imaginary friend that was more than a little persistent. When she was feeling more than a little superstitious she thought it was a ghost visiting her, like her grandfather or an old hero of some sort.

The truth, as it turns out, was far worse than she could imagine.

_“Mirror Mirror, what’s behind you? Save me from the things I see.”_

The older Weiss got, the worse things got. First the chills, worse than the cold weather of Atlas, and then the constant feeling of being watched by something. No matter how many times she brought this up to Winter or her father, she always got the same lame half-answers and sad looks.

Then Weiss started to see _her_.

_“Hiding pieces of the world, why won’t you let me hide from me?”_

She was always there, out of the corner of her eye, on a balcony overlooking a room, in a mirror with her reflection. Once Weiss could have sworn that she was in the crowd of a recital once, though no one else saw her then.

No matter what, she was always there. Always watching with either a cold look or a small smile that filled Weiss’ veins with ice. And this was all before she actually started approaching her.

_“Mirror Mirror, tell me something. Who’s the loneliest of all?”_

**“Not you.”**

Weiss gasped and turned around, knocking the stand down and scattering papers over the floor. That voice, the same one that haunted her dreams, she was sure it was right behind her. But no, Weiss was alone like always. Her eyes were drawn to the mirror on the wall and, slowly and stiffly, Weiss walked over to it. Weiss stood in front of it, taking in her own reflection as it stood silently in her room.

“Just nerves,” Weiss said closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. “Staying up all night last night did me no favors. I should just go to bed, and hopefully Father will keep me from the concert.”

Then Weiss felt an arm wrap around her waist and a hand brush her cheek lightly, both colder than any ice on Remnant, and Weiss gasped and shut her eyes tighter.

 **“There’s no need to be afraid of me Weiss. I would never hurt you, who bears my name and my likeness.”** It was her, Weiss knew instantly. That… thing that looked like the statues, that her mother had worshipped like a god, that wouldn’t leave her alone! **“After all, you’re my most precious doll.”**

“You’re not real,” Weiss said weakly, her body shaking with fear as the arms around her tightened. “Y-you’re just a nightmare I keep having. It’ll stop soon.”

 **“How long have we known each other that you should know better? No matter how much you wish, you are never alone. I am you Weiss, and you are me.”** The arms shifted a little and Weiss could feel a cold breath on her cheek. **“Just open your eyes Weiss, and see how real I am.”**

“N-no, you’re not-“ the hands on her moved as fast as lightning, the one brushing her cheek grabbed her jaw and the one around her waist grabbed the hair on her scalp.

 **“OPEN THEM!”** She shouted, voice full of fury and rage, and Weiss opened her eyes on a fear reflex. In the mirror her worst fears were once again there for her to see. Just behind her reflection was a monster that looked just like her, save for being a few years older, a horn extending in the middle of her forehead, and with skin far whiter than her own. Her arms were covered in black steel gauntlets, the fingertips filed into razors, and her face that rested right next to her was lined with deep red veins leading to her black eyes. The bright red of her pupils bore into Weiss’ blue, and she smiled at Weiss’ fear.

 **“See, I’m not so terrifying,”** she said returning one arm around Weiss’ waist and gently stroked her cheek again, very much ignoring the tears that Weiss was shedding. **“As long as you do. What. I. Say.”**

She pressed her cheek against Weiss’ own, the cold spreading through her head and forcing small sobs from Weiss’ throat. **“The day we’ve been waiting for will soon be upon us. When it comes, you will finally know peace my precious doll. Until then, dance and sing and be merry. After all, so few people will ever know the privileged life you have.”** The monster giggled and released Weiss, the hand on her cheek trailing along as she walked away. Weiss shut her eyes, not wanting to see that she was indeed real, though the sound of her door opening proved that more than she wanted. When the door shut Weiss rushed to it and locked it again, collapsing to her knees and bursting into tears afterwards.

“I am the loneliest of all.”

* * *

Growing up on Menagerie, Blake knew most of the legends of the island. One of which was Menagerie’s guardian deity Kuroshara. She had plenty of feats to her name, the most famous of them being how she cleared out the forest that Kuo Kuana was at now with a single swipe of her arms. The statue of her in the middle of the city would, in any other part of Remnant, be considered that of a monster. To the Faunus though, her monstrous appearance showed a protector keeping them safe from the horrors of the world.

Once Blake had thought the same thing, but she was just a kid then. She knows now that she really is a monster. A demon that had latched itself onto the weak with a vice grip and lead them to ruin for its benefit. Blake knew that truth more than most people.

“Blake, it’s time.” Blake blinked and looked at Adam, his eyes hidden beneath his mask. Still his body language was anxious and very much ready to go.

“Ok,” Blake replied and hopped off the rock she had sat on. Still lost in thought she walked over to Adam, who placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t worry, we’re more than enough for this job. After this, we won’t be hurting for Dust for a long time.”

“That’s… not what I had on my mind, but thanks.” Blake knew that Adam had looked up at the bow she used to hide her ears, though he didn’t say anything about that and instead started to run through the forest with her right behind him.

As she hopped through the red leaves of the trees with Adam’s black coat the only thing keeping her on the right path, Blake’s thoughts went back to the demon. Although Kuroshara watched over all Faunus, she had a close affinity for Cat Faunus. Even more so if they were a black cat Faunus like herself. She didn’t know why it latched onto her specifically, but its presence had made her life a hell from the day she was born.

Blake snapped out of her thoughts long enough to stop at the cliff edge, the railroad tracks at the bottom cutting a clean swath through the forest down below. To the left was the Schnee Company train that was their target running along. Blake waited three heartbeats before jumping off with Adam and for a brief second, she enjoyed herself before she landed hard on the train and broke into a dash.

She didn’t even have to use her Aura to soften the fall, which was another of the demon’s ‘gifts’. Her Semblance, combat skills, durability, all because of her. Blake scowled as she hopped from car to car until Adam stopped at a hatch and broke the lock. Blake’s arms twitched when Adam opened the hatch and jumped into the train car. Blake rubbed her arms and shivered at the sight of something snaking under her skin.

 _‘Please don’t, not now.’_ The twitching stopped and Blake took a deep breath before jumping in after Adam. Once she landed her hand moved to Gambol Shroud’s handle and she scanned for threats.

“Are you alright?” Adam asked quietly.

“I’m fine, let’s just get this done.” Whirring filled the train car and Blake briefly felt a headache come on as the AKs that lined the room came to life and moved to combat positions.

 **“Intruders, identify yourselves,”** the closest one said aiming its weapons at Blake. She glanced at Adam, who smirked and pulled the trigger on his sheath which launched the sword at the AK which stunned it long enough for Adam to grab the sword out of the air and slice it in half.

Blake saw the rest of the robots switch to active combat, so she drew her sword and dashed to join the fray. Despite her very general aversion to violence, some small part of her deep down relished in it. The tearing of metal, the sound of gunshots, all of it sent a shiver down her spine that very few other things could do.

_‘Would I still be like this if the demon wasn’t there?’_

“Behind you!” Adam shouted suddenly, just in time for Blake to block a blow from an AK and removed her sword from the sheath, pressed the gun barrel against its chin and squeezed the trigger three times. Blake ignored the oil splatter on her face and threw the robot at Adam, who grabbed it and threw it at a group in front of him which smashed through a door at the end of the car.

“I’ll clear the next car,” Adam shouted and rushed ahead, which was fine with Blake as she could handle a few sentry bots. The last few bots fell easily enough and Blake took a second to catch her breath and fight down both the trembling in her arms and the smile on her face. She shook her head and looked away from the oil shining in the red light and started to follow Adam.

 _ **‘You enjoy this, we both know that.’**_ Sometimes the demon talked to her, whispering words to sway her one way or another.

“Shut up,” Blake said to herself and rushed outside to find Adam fighting some more sentries. She wrapped Gambol Shroud’s ribbon around her hand and threw it ahead of her, a gunshot ringing out as it flew ahead and lodged into a robot’s head. She yanked it out as she jumped over it, barely glancing at it spraying oil before focusing on the others in front of her.

_**‘Just admit it Blake. The adrenaline, the tearing of steel and clashing of bone, it’s what you live for.’** _

“Shut up!” Blake didn’t care if she was shouting if it meant some peace of mind. She was sure that Adam had glanced at her, but if he wanted to say something he didn’t. The mission came first after all, they both knew that.

 _ **‘You’ll understand the appeal soon enough.’** _Thankfully a shotgun blast shook those thoughts away and Blake looked up just in time to see an AK flying toward her and cut it apart in two quick slices. After a quick glance showed all enemies were felled Blake took a breath and sheathed her weapon before rushing to Adam.

“You might want to clean that off,” Adam said glancing at Blake.

“I’ll do that later,” Blake replied opening the door.

“Are you sure you’re feeling alright?”

“I SAID I’M FINE!” Anger briefly filled Blake and her hands started twitching again. She grabbed her hands and gripped them tightly until the trembling stopped and took a deep breath. “Let’s… let’s just get this over with.”

“…Fine.” Adam lead the way into the car, Blake right behind him, and he opened one of several Schnee Dust Company crates and smirked at the Dust crystals inside. “Perfect. Clear the next car while I set the charges for our escape.”

“What about the crew?” Blake asked, very much ignoring the low laughter echoing in her mind. Adam, and the White Fang in general, have been getting more and more violent as time went on. They all said Kuroshara and the Faunus as a whole demanded faster progress and unfortunately violence of all kinds worked better, no matter how Blake argued.

“What about them?” Adam asked both coldly and with some confusion. “You didn’t seem to care about them earlier.”

“What?” Blake asked much more confused. Then she remembered the oil on her face and slowly came to a horrifying realization as she wiped some of it onto her hand to look at it. In the clearer light of this car she saw the distinctive red of blood on it. _‘Atlas mechs don’t use oil. How did I forget?’_

Somewhere there was a loud clanking and Adam called her name.

_**‘That is your power Blake. So many dead, so much destruction, so much good done by your hands. And there will be more if you just go with the flow.'** _

“You bitch…”

“Blake!” Adam shouted and shoved Blake, just in time to keep her from being hit by a much bigger mech. It must have been dormant in the car somewhere, lying in wait. Blake didn’t move from her slumped position on the wall while Adam engaged the mech.

“Why? Why would make me do that? How many did I kill?”

_**‘What does it matter? Be it one, ten, or a hundred it changes nothing. Only the ends matter in a revolution. You’re meant for so much greatness Blake, but you’ll never get there without killing a few people.'** _

“I don’t understand.”

 _ **‘As I said, you’ll understand soon enough. If you don’t then you’ll die, just like your partner will right now.’** _Blake’s eyes widened and she looked up just as Adam got knocked back by the mech and it started to charge a laser. Blake shot to her feet and rushed to Adam’s side, just as the mech fired and Adam drew his sword to block it, though he wasn’t fast enough to fully absorb it and they were both blown back outside.

Blake groaned once she had settled from the blow and rose to her knees before looking at Adam. She saw the small trickle of blood come from under his mask and felt that sick anger creep into her again. Then she heard the mech tear through the wall in front of them and walk closer.

They forced themselves back onto their feet and Adam settled into a ready stance. “Blake, cover me!” he shouted and took a breath. Blake, for her part, looked at him for a moment before drawing Gambol Shroud, sword and sheath in either hand and charged.

The mech took a swing at her, which she dodged easily with her Semblance, and she landed on the arm. She swung at the arm, the cut going deeper into the metal than she thought it would have, and launched off to do the same to the other arm.

_**‘You certainly are quick to violence when it suits you.’** _

“Shut up!” Despite the force Blake was ashamed to actually agree with that one. While attacking she saw a chance to disable the mech and jumped at the body to force open a hatch with her sword. Once it was opened a little, she braced her foot against the door and snapped it off with a quick kick.

And found the pilot. Blake froze at her horrified face, wondering just what she looked like splattered with blood. This deadlock lasted only a few seconds before the pilot drew a pistol and fired at Blake’s head. Blake backflipped away from the mech, leaving a clone to take the bullet for her, and she landed next to Adam just as the mech started to charge the laser again.

“Get back!” Adam shouted and grabbed his sword. Blake jumped back to the next flatbed car and put her weapon away when Adam blocked the laser blast.

 _ **‘Now he’s a warrior,’** _the demon said as Adam sheathed his sword again, his body radiating with stored energy. _**‘He’s quick, efficient, and doesn’t hesitate like you.’**_ The mech jumped at Adam, intent on crushing him, just as he hit it with one slice. The world was stained red as the mech, pilot included, was sliced in half and disintegrated into rose petals.

 _ **‘But don’t worry, someone like Adam won’t be able to compare to you when you reach your full potential.’** _Blake’s arms started trembling and she took a deep breath as she stared at Adam.

_‘No, I won’t. I won’t let you.’_

_**‘Defiance? Very well, do your worst. It’ll fail just like the others who came before you.’** _Blake took a deep breath and moved to the coupler of the car, just as Adam ran up to her.

“Blake, what are you doing?” he asked as Blake drew Gambol Shroud.

“You were always different Adam. I thought you could save me, but you can’t.” She looked down at the coupler and sliced it in half, her car advancing away from the one Adam was on. Then she took her sword out of the sheath, which she threw behind her, and checked that her gun was loaded when the blade folded up. “There’s only one thing that can.”

“What are you talking about?” Adam asked only to stop short when Blake pressed her weapon to her head.

“Goodbye.”

“NO!” Adam reached futilely at Blake as she pulled the trigger. The gunshot was deafening and Adam could only watch as Blake fell to the floor, blood pooling around her head. The car Adam was on continued to slow while he sank to his knees and watched Blake disappear, her cold eyes boring into him the whole way.

And yet, that wasn’t the end for Blake.

 **“Stupid girl.”** Blake’s body was slowly covered by a thick shadow and stood up. When the shadows disappeared, her clothes had changed to a ragged short kimono with wooden sandals, her skin was an unhealthy white and her arms were replaced with Grimm tentacles. One of the tentacles wormed to the hole in her head and dug into it, pulling the bullet out and dropping it to the floor after a moment. She shivered a little as the wound closed in a few seconds.

 **“As long as you have use, death will evade you. That’s how it’s always been and will be,”** she said both to herself and the girl who was now trapped in her own mind. The demon ran a tentacle along the mouth piece that she now wore, the decorative teeth none too different from her real ones, and heard footprints behind her.

“There might be more on the train!” The demon turned to see a small squad of soldiers coming out. “We’ll need them ali- what the hell is that?!”

Her answer to that was to shoot a tentacle out at the lead soldier, which pierced through his chest like it was paper. The soldier could only let out a small gasp before being thrown him off the train.

 _ **‘Time for another lesson girl. Watch and learn your fate,’**_ she thought and charged the soldiers, who screamed and opened fire with their rifles.

The train would be found a day later by an Atlas patrol ship. Every soul on board was dead, butchered so badly you couldn’t even tell they had been human once. Any Dust that was being carried was untouched and the only clue they could find on the perpetrator was a stylized flower drawn with the victim’s blood.

* * *

The Alpha Beowolf’s growls were starting to get Yang’s nerves, though she understood why. Just like her, it simply wanted to charge the camp they were observing and wreak havoc. Destruction was an innate instinct for all Grimm, but Yang was able to suppress it enough to find the most _fun_ way to do it. And after dark was always the best time to attack anyway, when the residents were settling down for the night.

“You’ll get your chance,” she told the Grimm, which caused it to turn and growl lowly at her. Yang glared at it and sliced the ground between them with her right arm, long ago replaced with a large Grimm arm, which caused the Beowolf to back up a little. “But only _after_ I’ve had my fill. Half of the horde encircle the camp, and kill anyone who tries to escape into the woods. The other will enter the camp when the fires start. Get on it.”

The Alpha growled, but slunk away anyway. Yang couldn’t help but smirk since, like any pack animal, Grimm favored strength over anything. As long as you’re stronger, you’ll always call the shots. Speaking of, Yang returned her attention to the camp.

 _‘A couple of armed guards inside, one at the main gate, and most others are already asleep. Easy pickings.’_ The Grimm were probably in place by now, so Yang decided to get started. She cracked the knuckles on her left hand and started walking toward the camp, a small ripple of glamour hiding her as a cloaked traveler instead of her true Grimm form. That was just one of many gifts that Queen gave to her and her sisters. When she was in sight of the front guard she started limping and grasping at her side.

“Please… I need help…” she moaned out, nearly collapsing in sight of the guard.

“Always on my shift,” the guard said aiming his pistol at Yang, who raised an eyebrow at the weapon. Seriously, a revolver with a knife handle is just dumb. “Hold it right there! That’s far enough!”

“Please, the Grimm are out there! They’re going to kill me.” Just a little closer…

“I’ll kill you now if you don’t stop!” By now the barrel was pressed against Yang’s forehead and she was looking terrified. “Do you have any idea where you are?”

“…Who cares?” Yang replied smiling widely as her eyes turned red. The man backed up with a gasp and fired, though Yang knocked the gun up so he hit nothing but air. She followed up with a punch to his gut, which forced him to bend over enough for Yang to wrap an arm around and break it with one quick jerk. “And that’s your neck,” she whispered and dropped her glamour and released the body. Instant death or slow suffocation he won’t be getting back up. She walked up to the gate and shook her head, “Wooden walls, that’s cute.”

“Shad, what the hell was that?” A female voice said on the other side of the gate, “I swear you better not be shooting rats again.” Yang balled her Grimm arm into a fist and reared back for a heavy punch, smiling widely at how easily the wood splintered under her strength.

With the gate down and the whole camp undoubtedly alerted, Yang stepped over what remained of the gate and stopped next to a woman sprawled on the ground with a piece of wood impaled in her stomach. The look on her face and the fear radiating off her when she saw Yang normally would have kept her alive for a little longer, but Yang was in a hurry. So, she barely spared her the glance needed to point her sawn-off shotgun at her head and pull the trigger.

 _‘And like hornets they come out,”_ Yang thought as people, bandits she guessed from their state of dress, started filtering out of the tents armed with whatever weapons they could carry. Yang cracked her neck as one of the bigger men charged at her with a battle axe and swung at her, which she blocked easily with her Grimm arm. She let him try and fail to wrench it out of her arm for a few seconds until she decided to level her shotgun at his chest and fired.

She shivered a little at the fear he felt in his last moments and placed the shotgun on the axe’s handle, using it to both wrench the axe out and open the breech. She shrank her right arm down to normal size and casually loaded her special shells. She snapped it shut as the humans formed a half circle in front of her and aimed carefully. _‘And also, like hornets, the best way to deal with them is to burn them.’_

The crack of her shotgun caused her enemies to flinch as a stream of fire flew at them, but the shot flew over them and instead hit a tent that exploded in flame. “Dragon’s breath!” one of them called out just as he got hit by the other round. He barely had time to scream before he was completely consumed by flame.

“You guys might actually put up a fight,” Yang said happily as she reloaded the shotgun.

“Did that thing just talk?!” Even if they could fight back, they were still afraid of her. Oh well, what could you do? She looked back as a couple of Creeps and Beowolves slowly entered.

“Try not to die too fast ok?” she said looking back forward and snapped her shotgun shut, “I want to gorge myself until I vomit.” The shock value started to wear off and the bandits opened fire, though they only managed to hit a few Grimm since Yang jumped to avoid it. Her Grimm arm grew to its normal large size and she fired her shotgun behind her to use the recoil to get herself spinning as she fell and punched the ground. Yang scowled at how easily the group was knocked down.

“Boring. Slaughter them!” The Grimm roared and charged past her at the bandits. The ones still on the ground stood no chance, but to be fair to them, the ones who were still standing fared much better against stock Grimm. “Oh well, fire makes everything better,” Yang reasoned with a shrug and fired a dragon’s breath at another tent, the people inside rushing out at the flames.

 _‘It’s the same everywhere. They talk big, but once I show up they scatter like ants.’_ She scratched her head with her shotgun and backhanded a bandit who tried to charge her side. She watched as the woman was overwhelmed by Creeps, her screams of horror only bringing a sigh as Yang started reloading again. _‘Just once I’d like to meet someone that can match me.’_

A deeper gunshot briefly caught her attention, though the scythe suddenly stabbing did a much better job of that. Yang barely had time to blink when a sword stabbed into her neck and she was face to face with a very angry girl. Even then, Yang barely felt any pain, so she snapped her gun shut and pressed the barrel to the girl’s chin and fired. To Yang’s surprise, the girl managed to pull her sword out and backflip out of the way in time and the scythe was yanked out of her stomach, and both attackers landed a few feet away from her. Yang looked down to see her wounds already closing up before looking back up.

For the first time in a long time, Yang was surprised to see that the two were barely teenagers, 15 at the very oldest. The girl readied a katana and the boy laid a scythe over his shoulder, both with black hair and their red eyes boring into her. Yang raised an eyebrow at the emotions radiating off both of them, more hate and anger than fear even at Yang’s appearance.

“Well, that’s different,” Yang whispered and holstered her shotgun before lowering her stance. She couldn’t help but smile at the surprised looks the kids gave her and then each other. “No one’s ever managed a sneak attack on me before. Don’t disappoint me after that first impression.” Yang then charged the two with a roar and swung her claws at them, which they both dodged. The girl who jumped bounded off her arm and landed a slash on her face while the boy slid under to go for her legs.

Yang flipped over the scythe and kicked at the girl, barely missing her head, and once she landed charged at the boy. He managed to do an admittedly impressive roll into a handstand when Yang punched the ground he was at and pushed off the ground to kick her in the face. Yang recoiled from the blow and dodged backwards in time for the scythe blade to just barely miss her horns.

Yang skid to a stop and dashed forward again, watching the girl jump backward while the boy readied his scythe and pulled a trigger, the recoil causing him to spin and forcing Yang to block the attack with her Grimm arm, her hand clasping around the blade.

“Gun scythe huh? Good idea,” Yang said with a smile and could feel the anger coming off him as he gritted his teeth. “You got good form kid, but you overextend your swings too much. Just some friendly advice.”

“Shut up!” he shouted and pressed harder, which was just what Yang wanted. His anger turned to surprise when Yang kicked his legs out from under him, using the momentum to rip the scythe from his hands and send him flying with a kick to the stomach. She let the scythe go and, after hearing a shout to her right, jumped and flipped over a swipe from the girl. Yang couldn’t help but shoot her a wink as the girl shot under her.

By the time Yang bounded off a handstand and turned back to the kids, she found the boy back on his feet and the girl just finished beheading two Beowolves and ready to fight again. “Oh, I _like_ you two!” She shouted with a cackle, “Fast, strong, _and_ spunky? They just don’t make them like that anymore!” The girl’s sword hand was shaking in anger and _god that was such a rich hate_ coming off her.

“You should work on your teamwork though. A bit tighter attack pattern and you could have actually hit-“ Yang faltered when she saw a few strands of pale blonde hair floated in front of her eyes. Time seemed to slow for her as she watched them fall to the ground in the firelight.

Her smile fell and she looked up at the smirking girl.

“You were saying?” she asked giving her sword a quick twirl and pointed it at Yang.

“Fun’s over now,” Yang growled and clenched a fist before crouching slightly and shooting forward like a bullet. She was next to the girl in an instant and had her hand around her throat before she could even be surprised. The boy backed up in shock and let his guard down, which Yang took advantage of by kneeing him in the stomach. He fell down out of breath and Yang planted a boot on his head before lifting the girl into the air. She would have enjoyed watching the girl struggle, a hand gripping the gauntlet on her arm, if she was in the mood to give a damn anymore.

“Qrow! Raven!” Yang barely spared a glance to her right at the woman who had shouted and was now charging with an electric tipped javelin and barely had time to block before Yang slashed at her with her claws. The woman’s Aura flickered before breaking and getting a slashed across her neck and chest for her trouble. She spun in the air once before landing face down, dead before she even hit the ground, and Yang smashed the body with her massive arm. Yang looked back at the girl, now staring at where the body used to be in shock before looking back at Yang with a deeper anger, her hand trembling from how hard it was gripping.

“Let me guess, your mother?” Yang asked and tightened her grip, the girl gasping as she was being choked out. “That’s on you. You touch my hair, you pay the price.” The girl managed to open her eyes and swing her sword again, the red blade flashing in front of Yang’s eyes. Yang nearly raised an eyebrow before she saw a few more strands of hair floating away, which she responded to as well as she could by choking her even more.

 _‘No, that’s not good enough for her! Sliced to pieces, beat to paste, burnt to ash, there’s no punishment in the world fit enough for this wretch!’_ Really though, she would be fine with killing her in any way if it weren’t for one tiny little thing.

“WHY! AREN’T! YOU! SCARED!” she roared and shook the girl, a few Grimm glancing over before resuming their attack. “I break down your pathetic defenses, burn your hovel to the ground, kill everyone you know, and you don’t even have the decency to be scared in the slightest!” Indeed, she could feel whatever fear she used to have had changed into hatred, just like the boy under her boot. It was frustrating, maddening, and just so… utterly unique! She couldn’t help but laugh at just how odd these two are, and slackened her grip just enough so the girl could breathe again.

“Oh, this whole thing is just rich! You know what, I really do like you. Too many people scare easily, but not you two.” Yang threw the girl to the ground hard enough to bounce off the ground, her sword flying out of her hand, and kicked the boy into her. _‘And they’re pretty good fighters too. Give them a few more years and they might actually be a challenge.’_ Yang smiled and scratched her cheek as the kids slowly grabbed their weapons and got back to their feet. _‘Well, like I tell Ruby every now and then, nothing wrong with a harmless gamble.’_ “So, Raven and Qrow right? Well, congratulations you two, I’ve decided that you’re not worth killing today.” _‘Which one is which? Whatever.’_

“What?” the boy asked, still holding his scythe at the ready.

“Ah, you can talk. Like I said, you’re not worth killing today. Maybe in a few years when you can put up a good fight. Right now, you not worth the effort to kill.”

“Are you serious?!” the girl shouted angrily, “After this, do you really think that we’ll just-“ she jumped back when Yang fired at her feet, her Aura flaring up in reaction.

“Or maybe I could kill you both now. I do still owe you for my hair after all.” She shrunk her Grimm arm down and started reloading her shotgun. “I really don’t care either way, believe it or not. I’ll give you thirty seconds to decide, and then I’ll just kill you. Tick tock little birdies.”

“You bitch!” Yang pulled out two Dragon’s Breath shells just as the boy grabbed the girl’s arm.

“Raven, we need to run,” the boy said.

“What, are you serious?!” the now named Raven shouted.

“There’s too many Grimm and we can’t fight her. The second she got serious she had us dead to rights! We will die if we don’t run!”

“He’s right you know,” Yang commented and loaded a dragon’s breath round. “Twenty seconds.”

“You do what you want Raven, but I’m leaving. This place is dead and survival comes first. Like always.” The boy, Qrow Yang guessed, started to run toward the main gate dodging Creeps along the way. Raven stared after him when he disappeared outside the gate, her sword hand shaking in anger.

“Ten seconds,” Yang said snapping the gun shut.

“…Dammit!” Raven finally said and swung her sword, which made some kind of portal appear out of thin air. The black-haired girl spared Yang one last hateful look before she ran through it.

“Interesting semblance,” Yang commented to herself as the portal disappeared and she rested her gun across her shoulders. “They’ll probably be dead by morning, but it’d be more fun if they did survive.” The ones driven by revenge never lasted long against any of the generals, but it was fun when they did show up. Yang looked around at the burning camp and decided she might as well finish her main job.

 _‘Too bad this didn’t last longer; I was really_ on fire _tonight. Heh, that was a good one, I’ll have to tell Ruby that later.’_

* * *

It never got easier whenever Ozpin arrived at one of these villages. The death and desolation were always absolute and the chances that someone survived was always nil. Still he had to see it for himself, to remind himself of how dangerous the Generals of Grimm were.

“Are you sure you should be here Professor?” Glynda asked once again. She had only joined the ranks of Beacon Academy’s staff recently, but he could see just how much potential she had.

“We both know what we’re dealing with here. I’ll be fine,” Ozpin replied simply and started walking through the village with Glynda and a few local Huntsman following behind him. As they walked by drying blood and fires that had long since burned out, both wood and otherwise, Ozpin felt the same sinking feeling in his gut that this will once again be a total slaughter. This was only strengthened when they reached the town square.

“Grimm did this?” one of the tagalong Huntsman asked looking around anxiously. Ozpin couldn’t blame him; the attack was probably sudden enough that most of the villagers couldn’t have escaped. Ozpin saw an unfortunately familiar scene when he saw a group of decapitated villagers and walked over to them. The wounds were too clean for it to have been any Grimm claws, and very few of the other dead were crushed or burnt. It was hard to know which General had attacked when they started, but Ozpin hated that it now happened often enough that he was starting to know each of their styles. “Professor?”

“Grimm, and something far worse,” Ozpin replied gripping his cane tightly. He heard a roar to his right and spun his cane into a combat position and stabbed. He glanced at the Beowolf going limp with his cane stabbed in its throat and let it fall in front of him when it started disintegrating. “Grimm are still around, and most likely in numbers. Keep your guard up while looking for survivors.”

“Could anyone have survived this?” A huntress asked kneading her bow.

“Let’s hope so. Keep each other covered and look everywhere.” The huntsman nodded and moved off as a group while Ozpin and Glynda went on their own. Every street told the same story as they walked and Ozpin took it all in with the same quiet reserve he always had.

“What drives such brutality?” Glynda asked closing a shop door. Ozpin didn’t miss the unease in her voice, which he couldn’t blame her for. The first or second time seeing this will always stay with you. With the distant crack of gunfire ringing in the distance, Ozpin turned a corner and saw a Beowolf crouched near a house clawing at a crawlspace. It pulled away to stare into the space before its ears perked up and looked at Ozpin and Glynda, their eyes meeting for a second before it charged with a snarl.

It only got a few feet to them before Glynda impaled it with a large piece of wood from a nearby building. Glynda pushed her glasses up and watched Ozpin walk past the vanishing Grimm to the crawlspace that had its attention before they showed up.

“This is odd, usually there are more Grimm than this. What’s so different here?” Ozpin said kneeling down and peering into the darkness beneath the building. He closed his eyes and focused his hearing, since a Grimm wouldn’t be trying to get under a building for no reason. After a moment of fruitless listening, Ozpin was about to move on when a faint sob caught his ear. “Hello, is someone in there?”

There was no answer, so Ozpin took out his scroll and turned on the flashlight to get a better look inside. He moved the light back and forth a little before he saw a child huddled in a corner shaking in fear.

“There you are. I won’t hurt you,” Ozpin said gently, though that only made the child curl up even more. The poor thing must have seen some awful things to be put in such a state. “If you’re scared of the Grimm, we can protect you. We can’t do that unless you come out.”

The child moved their head enough to see Ozpin’s silhouette and started to slowly crawl to him. Ozpin picked himself up, put his scroll away, and checked the street for any Grimm that might suddenly come along. That came to a stop when he heard scrambling and felt arms wrap around his waist. He looked down to see the child, a girl he could tell in the light, pressing her face against him and shaking slightly from crying.

“If there are more spaces like this under all of the buildings, then people will probably hide there,” Glynda reasoned pushing her glasses up. “We should let everyone know that.”

“There isn’t anyone else,” the girl said suddenly, backing away from Ozpin rubbing her eyes on the sleeves of her white jacket. “The monsters killed everyone, even papa. I’m the only one left.” Ozpin and Glynda looked at each other and had a silent exchange about the child.

“Even so, we still need to look. I’ll inform the Huntsman,” Glynda said after a moment and started walking away, leaving Ozpin with the girl. By now she had managed to calm herself enough to get her breathing under control. Ozpin knelt down next to her so he was on her level and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry that you had to go through this. No one should have to experience something like this so young.” Ozpin held back a sigh because, as much as he wanted to comfort her, she was probably the only one who could tell him what happened here. “Did you happen to see what did all of this? Like something giving commands?”

The girl shook her head and Ozpin kept his disappointment in check. “Well, perhaps that’s for the best. All things considered, you being alive is a miracle I’ll gladly take.” The girl opened her eyes for the first time and Ozpin couldn’t help but be surprised, which even she took notice of. “You have silver eyes.”

“Hm?” The girl cocked her head to the side.

“…I’m sorry,” Ozpin shook his head and stood up, “I meant to ask your name. My name is Professor Ozpin.”

“…Summer Rose.”

“Well then Miss Rose, let’s get you somewhere safe. I can do that for you at the very least.” Ozpin then gestured down the street with his cane and started walking slowly. Summer watched him for a moment before lifting the hood of her jacket over her head and following.

* * *

_‘I always wanted to be a hero. I thought it wouldn’t happen when my village was attacked and I lost you, but I managed to push myself through it. It’s hard to believe it’s been ten years since then. Every day I’m closer to that dream of mine, even though there are ups and downs, but I think they were all worth it. I think you’d be proud of me Dad.’_

A whoosh sounded behind Summer, making her jump and look back at a familiar portal. After a second a black-haired girl her age, dressed in black and red clothing with a sword at her side, stepped through and shook her head with a small smile when she saw her.

“There you are. I figured you’d be here.” The portal closed behind her and she walked up to Summer, her arms behind her head, and stared out at the ocean waves.

“I didn’t mean to worry you Raven,” Summer said brushing some hair behind her ears and looking back out to the waves. “I just wanted to be alone for a moment.”

“Trust me, we all know,” Raven said shaking her head, “But we kind of need you back. The new year is starting soon and we’re low on Dust and bullets.”

“Ugh, I hate pulling straws for Dust runs,” Summer sighed. “Alright, I’ll finish up and head back with you.” Raven nodded and Summer reached into her pouch to pull out a small bottle. She looked at the letter inside for a moment before kneeling down and placed the bottle in the water. Summer watched the bottle get carried out by the tide until it was fairly far out and stood up and raised her hood over her head.

“Sorry about that, I just…”

“I know,” Raven interrupted and opened another portal with a quick swing of her sword. “As long as it gets your mood up, you know?”

“It’s pretty up at the moment. I have a good feeling about this year.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I mean, this year can’t possibly be as crazy as last year, right?”

“Just don’t say that around Qrow. I don’t want you to jinx us.” Summer punched Raven playfully in the arm and walked into the portal, the latter following right behind her. They came out in their room back at Beacon with Qrow and Taiyang in the middle of some heated discussion. Summer watched for a moment with a smile, thinking back to her earlier thoughts.

 _‘I guess that’s the great thing about heroes. Even if some of them fall, more will rise to pick up where they left off.’_ Then Raven interjected herself into the boy’s conversation, yanking on both of their ears and angrily berating their nonsense. _‘Even if it’s people like us.’_


	2. New year, New troubles

Metallic clashes rang out in an empty field far away from the reign of the kingdoms. Ruby would never admit it out loud but she treasured these moments alone with Yang, even if they were spent sparing like this. She blocked a strike from Yang’s Grimm arm with her scythe, the larger Grimm’s wild eyes meeting Ruby’s calm eyes, and used her leverage to lift herself up just in time to dodge another punch. Ruby countered with a quick kick before wrapping her legs around Yang’s neck and flipping the larger general backwards.

Yang landed roughly face first and Ruby rolled back onto her feet. With a quick spin of her scythe she slammed it blade first into Yang’s right arm and slammed a boot onto the back of her neck. Yang, to her credit, didn’t show pain and only struggled and growled under Ruby’s strength. Once she realized Ruby had her dead to rights, Yang sighed angrily and tapped the ground three times with her left hand.

“Lost again Yang,” Ruby couldn’t help but tease stepping off Yang’s neck and pulling her scythe out of her arm. She moved near Yang’s head and smirked as Yang looked up at her before offering a hand to help her up. The blonde rolled her eyes and grabbed the hand to pull herself up. When she was back up she shrank her Grimm arm down and crossed her arms. “What is it you like to say Yang? ‘Overextended your reach’?”

“Shut up, I almost had you that time!” Yang said poking Ruby in the chest with a claw. “If I had my shotgun-“

“Guns are cheating, and they always have been,” Ruby retorted brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. “The simple fact that I’m stronger without them proves my station well enough. Stick to being a powerhouse for us and leave the leading to me, ok Yang?”

“Whatever.”

“If you two are done fighting,” a third voice said catching Ruby and Yang’s attention, “can you explain why we have to be here?” The two looked to find Weiss sitting on a nearby boulder examining the claws poking through her gauntlets and Blake leaning against the side of the same boulder.

“Look who showed up,” Yang said with a wide smile, “You two done playing with your dolls for the day?” Weiss glared down at Yang and hopped off the boulder and, after a moment of brushing her dress off, marched at Yang with Blake slowly following behind.

“I’ll have you know those ‘dolls’ are instrumental to our plans in the future,” Weiss said pressing her face into Yang’s. “I’m doing far more work than you are burning villages down.”

“Really?”

“Of course,” Blake said plainly, “a little more pressure and they’ll break. That’s just as true with people as it is with society. The subtle touches work more often you know.”

“Where’s the fun in that? Give me a fire over a pair of pliers anyday.”

“Listen to me you little-“ Weiss started, but…

“Enough!” Ruby shouted slamming her scythe into the ground between them. Once the three others were looking at her she let go of the scythe and paced in front of them. “Weiss asked what we’re doing, so I’ll speak plainly. Queen wants us to inspect the academies again.”

“Why? It’s not like they’ve changed all that much in a year,” Yang said. “How many times do we have to-“

“As many times as she tells us!” Ruby shouted and ran her left hand down her face. After a deep breath she said, “We’re too far in this to take chances. The academies are taking in new blood soon and any _one_ Huntsman could derail any plan. We all should know that from experience.”

“True enough,” Weiss said rubbing her chin. “Little Weiss has heard rumblings in the Atlas high society about some outstanding up and comers. It deserves attention.”

“Then you’ll take Atlas,” Ruby said nodding to Weiss. “Blake…”

“I can set a day aside to inspect Haven,” Blake said holding a tentacle in front of her. “We should also remind the Lion on where he stands, if you agree.”

“Read my mind. I’m going to inspect Beacon myself.” Ruby held up her Grimmed right arm and clenched it into a fist. “Cinder is making her move soon, and Queen wants some mild details ironed out.”

“So I get Vacuo? Fair enough, I like resting _in the Shade_. Eh?” Yang’s retort was met only with disapproval from Blake, an eye roll from Ruby, and a red icicle shot at her head that was dodged with a chuckle.

“You have your orders and two days to see it through. We’ll talk via Seer when we’re done. And stay vigilant, we’re almost done and can’t afford any screw ups.” The four generals nodded to each other and started going their separate ways. Ruby watched her retreating comrades for a moment before retrieving her scythe and looked up at a Griffon that was landing. As she got ready to mount the Grimm she thought of her destination and the man who lived there.

“Soon, we’ll see each other again Ozpin. And you’ll pay.”

* * *

Summer was not happy, having pulled the short straw to get Dust for the team, and finding out that most of the Dust shops were closed for one reason or another. It took her all evening before she finally settled on going to the normal stop of Team STRQ, From Dust til Dawn. She made her way to the street the shop was on and sighed in relief that it was still open.

 _‘Leave it to Shopkeep to keep the doors open so late,’_ she thought as she jogged to the shop and saw the old shopkeeper still at the counter when she entered. He looked up and waved with a smile at Summer. “Hello, sorry for coming in so late; It’s kind of an emergency.”

He waved those concerns away and held out a hand, which prompted Summer to dig through her skirt pockets and give him a slip of paper. “It’s just the basic necessities for now. Can you fill that out?” Shopkeep looked over the paper for a moment before giving a thumbs up. “Awesome, you’re the best! I’ll read a magazine in the back, so just holler when you have it together.” Shopkeep nodded and started looking behind the counter, so Summer left him be and went to the magazine rack in the back and quickly zeroed in on a weapons magazine to read.

 _‘Ooh, the X30r scope looks good… if any of us could actually use it.’_ Summer sighed and flipped a page. _‘None of us are able to fight at long range, we’re too focused on close combat. Maybe I can try and talk Qrow into modifying his scythe into a sniper rifle again?’_ The bell for the front door rang, which barely elicited a glance back from Summer before she spotted an ad for a new slide polish. At least until a conversation filtered to her from the front.

“Do you have _any_ idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?” A man said from the front followed by a gun powering up.

_‘Oh that’s not good.’_

“Please, just take my lien and leave!” Shopkeep said in panic, only for the first voice to shush him.

“Calm down, we’re not here for your money. Grab the Dust.”

 _‘That’s even worse.’_ Summer carefully moved so she was facing the magazine rack before closing her eyes and listening to the footsteps. _‘If it’s a robbery it’ll be a group effort. Four people, five tops, if they want to be fast and quiet. This should be easy.’_ The sound of Dust siphons filled the shop along with more talking that Summer couldn’t quite make out. She had only come up with a rudimentary plan when…

“Hey you, put your hands up!”

 _‘And they found me. Let’s hope this works.’_ Summer pretended to be engrossed in the magazine, glad she had left her hood up, and heard the man growl and walk over to her.

“You got a death wish or something?!” he said roughly turning her around by her shoulder, which actually caught her off guard for a moment as she took him in. The black business suit and undershirt, the red tie and matching hat, all of it rang a small bell.

“I’m sorry, you said something?” she asked innocently. He responded by holding a cleaver up to her face.

“Put your hands up, now!” he reiterated.

“Is this a hold up?” she asked again and was slightly taken aback when he _nodded_. “Well, ok then.” As fast as she could Summer threw her magazine at the thug’s face, which surprised him into taking a swing at her. She ducked under it and jumped toward him to land a drop kick to his face just as he got the magazine out of his face, sending him flying to the front of the shop. She landed on her back and rolled backwards into a crouch.

 _‘If they have guns, one stray bullet could blow this place up. I need to get outside.’_ Her eyes settled on the large window in front of her and she started focusing. So when another robber rounded the shelf and aimed at Summer, he barely caught a glimpse of her crouching with white petals coming off of her before there was an explosion of petals in front of him and found himself flying backwards with a hand on his face.

The two broke through the window and Summer slammed the robber’s head into the pavement outside before landing in a rough roll. She got up to her feet, her eyes on the man to see if he was conscious, and drew her sword and dagger before turning back to the store.

Through the broken window Summer could see the rest of the robbers and she locked eyes with one in particular, a man with a white coat and a bowler hat, and she pointed her sword at him. He just shook his head and said, “Get her,” which the others obliged by running out the front door and toward Summer.

 _‘Two cleavers, one SMG. Yeah, easy.’_ Summer took a breath just as the first guy reached and took a swing at her. She blocked the strike, sidestepping just a little so the cleaver scrapped along her sword, and she kneed him hard in the stomach. When he bent over she hit him on the back of the head with her sword’s pommel and blocked the second robber’s cleaver.

They pushed against each other for a moment before Summer flipped her dagger into a reverse hold and stabbed the robber in the arm holding the cleaver. He screamed in pain and dropped his cleaver which Summer room to kick the back of his knee and, once he was down on his knee, knocked him out with a roundhouse kick. Then she heard the sound of a gun cocking and quickly ‘Blinked’ to her left, barely avoiding a stream of bullets and leaving behind a trail of white petals.

When she stopped and focused on the last robber, she pressed a switch on her dagger which morphed it into a pistol and Blinked over to him. He tried to swing his gun at Summer, which she blocked with her sword before shooting him in both legs and kicked him backwards at the robbery’s leader who looked down shaking his head.

“You get what you pay for I suppose,” he before looking up at Summer aiming at him. Sirens started echoing in the distance as he took one last drag from his cigar and dropped it on the ground and stomping it out. “Well kid, I think we can both agree this was an interesting evening, but now it’s time for me to leave.”

“After all of this, not a chance,” Summer replied and leveled her gun a little more, “Now drop your cane and put your hands over your head!” He simply smirked.

“Not a chance,” he said and raised his cane to Summer, her eyes widening when the bottom flipped open.

 _‘Oh shi-‘_ Summer Blinked upwards just as he fired a shot from his cane, which exploded on the spot she had been standing on. She landed and saw that Mr. Hat was gone and Shopkeep had walked up to the front door. He pointed behind her and she turned to see Hat climbing a ladder across the street.

“Damn he’s fast. Will you be ok on your own?” Shopkeep nodded and Summer sheathed her sword before running to the ladder, already focused on the very top of it. Hat had already climbed to the roof when Summer jumped and blinked up to the roof, grabbing the edge and pulling herself up and aimed her gun at Hat. “Freeze!”

Hat slowed to a stop and shook his head. “Persistent brat,” he mumbled under his breath.

“I won’t tell you again, put your hands over-!” Summer was interrupted by a dropship rising in front of Hat and opening its side doors. Summer raised her free arm in front of her face to protect it from the wind as Hat made the jump up to the ship and climbed inside. _‘A dropship for a small Dust robbery? Who the hell is this guy?’_

“So close squirt, but no cigar,” Hat said holding up a Fire Dust crystal.

“SQUIRT?!” Summer shouted, feeling her eye twitch slightly. Hat then threw the crystal out of the airship and the crystal landed just feet in front of Summer, though she didn’t take her eyes off of Hat. She took a deep breath and focused again, white petals once again floating off of her cloak. _‘One more big jump is all I could afford right now.’_

“So, like I said,” Hat pointed his cane at the crystal, “Good night and so long!” He fired the cane and Summer shot toward him in a storm of petals. The world slowed for just a moment as she barely missed hitting the shot in midair before she continued on hitting Hat with her shoulder as the shot blew the crystal up on the rooftop.

Hat grunted in pain as he was knocked into the far wall of the dropship while Summer was knocked onto her back in a daze. She shook the stars out of her eyes in time to notice the open door to the cockpit and fire three shots into it, the first two going wide and hitting the window while the last one hit the console. The pilot flinched away from the gunshots and the dropship lurched to the side while warning screeches sounded from the console, the former making it harder for Summer to find her footing as she stood up.

The cane to the face didn’t help much in that respect either.

“You just don’t know when to quit, do you?!” Hat shouted and swung his cane at Summer, though she had managed to switch her gun back into a dagger and rolled to her feet to block the cane in time.

“Nope. A Huntress never does,” Summer replied and pushed the cane back. She made to stab at Hat’s face only for it to be parried by a cane. Summer soon found, after a few more failed swipes and having to block a few more blows, that Hat was actually a skilled fighter in his own right. Hat took another swing at her head, which she blocked with her dagger and grabbed with her free hand. The look on his face when Summer yanked him closer and managed to land a swipe on his chest was priceless, along with when she kicked him into the cockpit.

“Just give up, you’re not winning this!” Summer shouted at him and pointed her dagger at him as he lay against the console, his Aura still shining from the recent protection. Just then a bright flash of purple shone from above the dropship, followed by very dark storm clouds that made the ship rock. Summer couldn’t help the smirk when she added, “Especially not now.”

Hat groaned in frustration and looked to the side as someone new, a woman in a red dress, entered the doorway with a flame in her hand. Summer’s eyes widened and she barely managed to dodge to the side as the fireball shot past her and exploded on the back wall. She just found her footing when she had to block a sword swing, and Summer felt a chill run down her spine when saw the material the sword was made of and when her eyes met the woman’s yellow ones.

 _‘Oh this is bad. Too enclosed for this, I gotta get out!’_ Summer’s arms were starting to ache when she ran her dagger down the sword toward the woman and ducked. The woman dodged backwards and her sword passed over Summer’s head, who ran for the open door and jumped out. The moment she left the dropship she turned around, switched her dagger into gun mode, and fired back into the airship. Most of the bullets hit the side of the ship, but the few that would have hit her were blocked with her hands flashing brightly.

Summer’s handgun clicked empty and she Blinked downwards, landing roughly on her back on the roof and rolling backwards. She came to a stop next to a woman, needing only one look at her to recognize Glynda Goodwitch, and got up into a crouch when Glynda put up another Glyph to protect both of them from a set of fireballs from the airship. The world exploded around the Huntresses, though the both of them stayed calm while Glynda gathered up some of the debris into a spear and launched it at the dropship. Summer slowly reloaded as she watched the woman destroyed the spear with more fireballs, though it quickly reformed and scrapped against the ship’s wings. The ship was knocked around and looked ready to come down when a wave of energy shot out from it, knocking away both the clouds and the moving debris.

Summer growled at that and aimed at the woman, though simple distance made that impractical. The woman made a swipe and the ground under her started shining red. When she noticed the sigils under her feet glowing brighter, Summer dove forward along with Glynda mere moments before they exploded. When Summer got back to her feet and aimed again the dropship was already disappearing into the night.

“Dammit,” Summer cursed and lowered her weapon as she watched the ship disappear behind a building.

“Summer Rose,” Glynda said getting Summer’s attention and crossed her arms, “I should have known you’d be in the middle of trouble yet again.”

“Not by choice Professor,” Summer replied and spun her gun in her hand, it switching back to a dagger mid spin and sheathed it. Summer then sighed and rubbed the back of her head. “Ugh, what a night.”

“And how exactly did you find yourself in the middle of a robbery by accident?” The sirens had grown very loud by now and the two Huntresses moved to the edge of the building to look down at the police cars that had just arrived.

“I should explain that to the police as well,” Summer said looking back at Glynda. “Will there be a debrief back at Beacon as well?” Glynda nodded and motioned back to the ladder with her wand. Summer sighed and shook her head as she walked past Glynda to the ladder. “So much for a simple Dust run.”

* * *

Summer barely got any sleep that night. Thanks to both reporting what happened to the police and debriefing Professor Ozpin about the incident, her mind was kept constantly going over what happened. Thankfully that’s why coffee exists, so Summer spent the morning on top of the pillars in the courtyard with a thermos, a mug, and her scroll open on the news. Right now it was talking about the latest technological advances from Atlas, which Summer paid only the barest of attention to.

“There you are.” Summer jumped a little and looked behind her to see Qrow walking up to her. He waved at her, which she returned, and sat down next to her. “You gotta stop wandering off like that.”

“You all can find me easily, so why bother telling you guys?” Summer replied and pulled her thermos closer to her, “And this is my coffee, you can’t have any.”

“I’m fine on that,” Qrow held up a hand, “And it sounds like you’ll need it after last night right?”

“We’re taking turns for Dust runs from now on,” Summer said taking another drink of coffee and holding her scroll up again. “I think Raven’s right, we are all cursed.”

“Great, now all of you can feel my pain,” Qrow said sarcastically. He then leaned closer to Summer’s scroll and said, “Oh, speaking of. Turn the volume up.” Summer rolled her eyes, but did so anyway as the news showed the front of From Dust til Dawn, cordoned off by police tape.

_“A local Dust shop was the site of another robbery, the latest in a string that’s been happening in Vale for the last few weeks. This one however was thwarted with minimal damage thanks to the efforts of two Huntresses. The first on the scene, a Beacon Academy student who wished to remain anonymous, said she was just in the right place at the right time and did what any Huntress would do in the situation.”_

“Anonymous huh?” Qrow asked glancing at Summer, the news still droning from the scroll.

“After the firestorm of coverage we faced after taking down a Mafia family last year, you’re damn right I didn’t want my name circulating again,” Summer said draining her mug and setting it down. “I just want to be a normal student for at least a few months.”

“But that isn’t happening, right?” Qrow asked just as a mug shot of Hat came on screen.

“Probably not,” Summer said with a sigh.

_“The mastermind behind the robbery attempt has been identified as Roman Torchwick, a notorious criminal in the Vale area. He is considered armed and dangerous and any information on this man is to be reported to the Vale Police Department. Back to you Lisa.”_

“I knew he seemed familiar,” Summer said handing the scroll to Qrow and picking up the thermos, “He had barely left that nightclub just before we busted it up last year.”

“Junior’s place? That can’t be good then.” Qrow looked over at Summer as she took a drink of coffee.

“And now that you point it out, the people with him were part of Junior’s gang.” Summer sighed and shook her head. “Power vacuums suck. And then there’s that on top of everything else,” she pointed at the scroll as a picture of a Faunus protest appeared next to the news anchor.

 _“A Faunus protest for worker’s rights yesterday was brought to a sudden halt when members of the White Fang interrupted the meeting.”_ The picture was replaced by the White Fang logo. _“This once peaceful group has now disrupted fifteen protests over the past few months around the world, and has been attributed to countless acts of terrorism. The most notorious of these acts is the attack on a Schnee Dust Company train two months ago, which resulted in a car full of Dust being stolen and the deaths of 30 security guards and train engineers. The main suspect behind that attack is still at large.”_

“Yeah, the world’s kind of a mess right now,” Qrow said closing the scroll and handed it back to Summer, “but when isn’t it? We can’t exactly do anything about the White Fang.”

“I know. Make the world better one bit at a time, that’s all we can do.” Suddenly a portal opened to Summer’s left and Raven walked out a second later carrying a plastic shopping bag. “And that’s three of us,” Summer said as the portal closed and Raven sat down next to her, “So where’s Tai?”

“I saw him hanging out with CFVY,” Raven said running a hand through her hair, “He was helping out Velvet with that box she’s been working on since last semester.” Raven leaned forward and glanced over at Summer and asked, “So, what happened with you last night?”

“Ugh, that. It was just a robbery I got caught up in, nothing more. At least I’d like to think so.” Summer scratched her cheek and noticed Raven raise an eyebrow.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Not in public,” Summer warned quietly. Raven nodded and went back to looking in the distance. Summer looked down at the bag Raven brought and opened it slightly, raising an eyebrow at the contents. “What’s with all the eggs?”

“Don’t you worry about that,” Raven said waving a hand at Summer. Summer could feel Qrow shaking his head next to her when Raven smiled widely and pointed in the distance. “And there’s the first transports, right on cue.” Summer and Qrow turned and saw the incoming airships bringing in new students.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that,” Qrow said leaning forward as well, “New year means new students.”

“We’re going to have underclassmen,” Raven added with a small chuckle. “Precious newbloods who’ll be looking to _us_ for guidance. That’ll be fun.”

“Well, they’re doomed.”

“Will both of you be quiet. I want to see what we got,” Summer said reaching behind her to her pouch and pulled out a set of binoculars. She looked through them at the first transport ship that docked and the stream of initiates that filtered out of it. “It looks like we got some good ones this year.”

“Any stand outs either way?” Raven asked and started digging through her bag, “I got an egg with the lame duck’s name on it.”

“I knew it, I knew you’d do something like this,” Qrow said face palming, “You’re going to get us in trouble _again!_ ”

“Only if we get caught.”

“We always get caught.”

“Will both of you shut up,” Summer said and glared at the twins, “You’re both so loud.” Summer looked through her binoculars again and after a second said, “And you’re in luck Raven, someone is throwing up in a garbage can.”

“There’s always at least one,” Qrow commented thinking of a certain blonde, “It doesn’t really mean anything.”

“True enough,” Summer said and started scanning the incoming crowd again, “Let’s see… ok there’s one. At 141, the red head in the armor with the mace.” Summer handed the binoculars to Raven so she could look through them. Raven watched the boy Summer pointed out and sighed.

“Lame, but average,” Raven said plainly, “Not even worth an egg.”

“Really?”

“Yep, you can tell pretty easily,” Raven handed the binoculars to Qrow. “That smirk, the way he carries himself, it all just screams overconfident jackass. Give him a month and he’ll be another cardboard cutout bully.”

“Yeah, I agree,” Qrow said after a moment. “I’d bet 500 Lien that he doesn’t make it six months.”

“I’ll take that bet. Can I have some coffee Summer?”

“No,” was Summer’s response along with moving the thermos away from Raven.

“Hey I got a couple of newcomers that look good,” Qrow said and handed the binoculars to Summer. “144, the energetic red head and the guy in the green jacket she’s with.” Summer searched for a moment before she found them, though given how the girl was acting it wasn’t hard.

“God, she’s bouncy,” she commented as she watched the red headed girl dance around her friend. “She’d give my Blinking a run for its money. I love that guy’s jacket too.”

“You could use some more color in your wardrobe,” Raven whispered.

“Excuse me?! I’ll have you know white and black look good on me!”

“But it’s all you wear, even casually! Even I have something other than red and black to wear you know.” Raven then reached over and snatched the binoculars from Summer and started looking again.

“I’m getting bored now. I need to find a _real_ bad one or else I’m just going to start egging random people.”

“Oh god, please don’t do that,” Qrow pleaded quietly, only for Raven to leap to her feet with a small yelp of excitement.

“There we are! He’s blonde, he’s lost, and still looks a little sick! We got our lame duck of the year at 152!”

“Let me see,” Summer said taking the binoculars back and looking at who Raven pinpointed. It took a moment before she found said blonde and recognized the black hoodie he had. “Oh yeah, that’s Vomit Boy. And yeah, he looks really lost.”

“He won’t last a day. I’d put 1000 that he forged papers to get here.”

“I can’t possibly imagine how _you’d_ know _who_ forged papers Raven,” Summer said sarcastically, which earned a glare from Raven, as she passed the binoculars to Qrow. “Besides, you don’t know if he did that. He might just be a wild card in the making.”

“Either way, he’s getting an egg. Qrow, spot me!”

“Sure. Throw when ready,” Qrow said flatly and looked through the binoculars.

* * *

The day had not been going in Jaune’s favor so far. Sure he had managed to get onto the ship for Beacon well enough, but they had only barely started moving when he got blasted by motion sickness. He was sure the others saw him sick to his stomach the entire ride over and a few minutes after. And now that he was actually at Beacon he realized he was absolutely lost and with no one else around to help him out.

 _‘Well I guess there was that cute redhead, but that ship probably sailed when I started getting sick.’_ Jaune sighed and looked around again when a small ‘crack’ sounded next to him. He jumped away from the sound with a ‘manly yell’ as he’d later describe and looked down to find the shattered remnants of an egg on the ground. _‘What?’_

* * *

“Miss,” Qrow said flatly.

“You suck Raven,” Summer added teasingly.

“Dammit!” Raven punched the ground and pointed at Summer. “The sun got in my eyes!”

“Oh yeah, that _blinding noon sun_ ,” Summer replied with an eye roll before reaching over and taking an egg from the bag. “You just don’t know how to throw them.”

“Huh?” Raven asked as Summer stood up, raising an eyebrow along with Qrow as she lowered her hood and held a thumb out.

“You’re not serious, are you?” Qrow asked with a hint of worry.

“Why not? It’s like shooting a bow; you have to visualize the arc you want it to go along and, most importantly,” Summer reared her and took a quick step forward, “flick your wrist when you throw!” Summer did exactly that and Raven watched the egg sail into the sky, Qrow looking through the binoculars at the intended target again.

“How do you know how to shoot a bow?” Raven asked after a moment.

“Hunting when I was a kid.”

“Figures.”

“And…” Qrow interrupted holding up a finger, “Hit. Right on the head.”

“Bullseye!” Summer shouted and threw her arms up. She also definitely did not start bouncing like a kid, despite what Raven saw.

“I want a go,” Qrow said suddenly and stood up to walk past Summer.

“Seriously?” Raven asked as Qrow dug through the bag and pulled out an egg, “After all the talk about not getting in trouble?”

“That went out the window when _she_ got in on it,” Qrow pointed at Summer, who at least had the decency to blush and pull her hood back over her head. “We might as well all go down together right?”

“I knew you had it in you,” Raven said with a smirk.

“Just spot me,” Qrow said irritably and held out the binoculars to Raven, who took them with little complaint and looked through them. She couldn’t help the chuckle at the blonde boy trying to wipe egg from his hair while Qrow looked over the egg in his hand.

“Flick the wrist, right?” he asked Summer, who nodded happily. Qrow shrugged and threw the egg with a grunt, which sailed effortlessly through the air.

“Ooh, he sees it coming this time!” Raven said excitedly and leaned forward. “And… damn.”

“Missed?”

“Nope,” Raven lowered the binoculars and handed them to Summer, who was caught off guard by her surprised look. “It was caught.”

“Caught?” Summer asked and raised the binoculars to see a girl in bronze armor casually tossing the egg in one hand looking right at her, Vomit Boy staring at her in surprise next to her. “She must have good reflexes to catch something so small and fast. I don’t think the egg even broke.”

“Let’s see if she can catch another one,” Raven said taking another egg and standing up. Just as she reared up for a throw she felt a firm hand grip her forearm and, since Summer and Qrow were now looking behind her in terror, Raven knew who had her.

“Team STRQ, causing trouble as usual,” the humorless voice of Glynda Goodwitch said.

All Raven could reply with was a small “…Shit.”

* * *

“Well, at least they got caught,” the girl said and shook her head as she looked down at the egg in her hand. “I can’t believe someone would stoop to so juvenile a prank at an academy. Are you ok?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, I’ll be ok. It’s just egg after all,” Jaune said and continued wiping yolk out of his hair. “Ah, I’ll wash it out later. Egg is hardly the worst thing I’ve had in my hair.”

“That’s… really sad.”

“Yeah, it is.” Jaune sighed and turned to her fully. “I was hoping to get more than a few minutes before something like this happened, but whatever. Thanks for the help anyway.”

“It was my pleasure, Mr…?”

“Jaune Arc! Er, but just Jaune is fine.” Jaune held out the hand that wasn’t covered in egg to the girl and was glad when she accepted and shook it. _‘Oh wow she has a firm grip!’_

“It’s nice to meet you Jaune,” she said cheerfully and let go of Jaune’s hand. The pair stood in silence for a moment until Jaune coughed.

“So… are you going to tell me your name?” he finally asked. It was another moment before her eyes widened and she jumped a little in shock.

“OH! I’m sorry! I didn’t think-“ She stopped for a moment to clear her throat. “I mean, my name is Pyrrha Nikos. It’s nice to meet you.” Jaune blinked twice at Pyrrha and tilted his head at her.

“Pyrrha… Nikos?” he repeated quietly.

 _‘So much for that,’_ Pyrrha thought sadly, her smile never dropping from her face. _‘He probably knows me from my time in Mistral and-‘_

“That’s a nice name,” Jaune said, which brought Pyrrha’s thoughts to a halt. “I feel like my luck’s starting to turn. I didn’t think I’d make a friend so fast here.”

“Uh, right! I was just thinking the same thing!” Pyrrha replied happily, “This will go by easier with a friend right?” _‘Does he really not know who I am?’_ Jaune looked to his right and stood up straight in shock. When Pyrrha followed his gaze she saw a group of four people walking toward them, led by the woman Pyrrha saw on the airship announcement. Glynda Goodwitch, if she remembered right.

The group stopped next to Pyrrha and Jaune and Glynda looked the two of them up and down with sharp eyes before looking back at the three that had followed her. “Are these the two?” she asked, her tone just as harsh as her demeanor suggested.

“Yes Professor,” the girl at the front and Pyrrha took a moment to take them all in. The boy in the back, dressed in a gray and white dress shirt with black pants to match, seemed almost uninterested in what was going on, which was shared by the black haired girl next to him, who was dressed in a black and red outfit that Pyrrha would swear looked like a ninja’s clothes. Still, at least the guy was _looking_ at them as opposed to the girl who was just looking to the sky with her arms behind her head.

And then there was the girl in front, the shortest of everyone gathered and hid almost entirely by a white cloak. The hood over her head his most of her features, though Pyrrha could make out her dark red hair, fairish skin, and her eyes when she looked at her. Pyrrha wasn’t sure why, but the look in her silver eyes exuded a quiet confidence and fierceness that complimented her posture. The way she narrowed her eyes at Pyrrha only proved to the gladiator just how dangerous she was; a natural if there ever was one.

“Well, for the sake of these two, I’ll reiterate your punishment,” Glynda said and pointed at Pyrrha and Jaune. “Since you three decided to integrate yourselves in their first day at Beacon in an obnoxious manner, you three will show these two around the Academy.”

“Do we have to?” the boy asked scratching the back of his head.

“It’s either that or detention, as I explained. Which would your _whole_ team rather have?”

“Well,” the black haired girl started, “I for one would prefer det-“

“Qrow, hit her,” the other girl said and the boy (Qrow, Pyrrha figured) slapped the first on the back of her head. White cloak ignored the glare being shot at her as she said, “As Raven was saying, we’d be happy to show them around. Just please don’t tell Professor Ozpin about this.”

“He will know,” Glynda said and leaned closer to the girl, “that you all have been punished accordingly Summer Rose. Orientation is in twenty minutes, so make sure these two get there.” With that said, Glynda straightened up and walked back toward the main building of the Academy. Once she was out of earshot the black haired girl, Raven, sighed loudly.

“What a waste of our day off. Think we can just bail?”

“Don’t even think about it,” Qrow said warningly.

“It is our fault for getting carried away,” Summer said quietly, “even if it was _you_ that brought the eggs. Speaking of…” Summer turned to Jaune, who stiffened up a little more under her gaze. “I’m sorry about the egg. I didn’t think it would actually reach you.”

“Uh, n-no worries! I’ll just have to wash it out,” Jaune said nervously and rubbed the back of his head, sighing a second later when he realized he got even more egg all over himself. Summer tilted her head to the side and leaned closer to Jaune, who backed up a little at the closeness.

“What’s your problem? Are you allergic or something?” Summer asked narrowing her eyes a little. Jaune could only stammer out something akin to an answer under the gaze.

 _‘This girl’s really getting on my nerves,’_ Pyrrha thought glaring at Summer.

“You’re doing it again,” Qrow said suddenly. Summer looked back at him and tilted her head at him.

“Again?” she asked, which both Qrow and Raven nodded at. After a couple of seconds of staring at each other Summer grabbed her head with a cry of “Dammit, you’re right!” Then she slouched forward in an exaggerated fashion with a huge sigh before turning back to Pyrrha and Jaune with an absolutely _bashful_ look on her face. “Um, I’m sorry if I made you nervous. I’m… not good at the whole ‘people’ thing right now. B-but I’m working on it, I swear!”

 _‘Is this the same girl?!’_ Pyrrha though almost in shock as Summer nervously pressed her index fingers together. Qrow groaned and moved past Summer, grabbed Jaune by the arm, and dragged him flailing toward the academy building.

“Time’s wasting. I’ll take Vomit Boy to a bathroom and you guys take her to the assembly hall. We’ll meet later, ok?”

“Vomit Boy?! Where’d that come from?!” Jaune’s cries were ignored as Qrow dragged him away, the three girls left behind staring after him while Summer chuckled nervously.

“Ain’t that like Qrow to get straight to the point,” Raven said with an eye roll and turned to Pyrrha. “So who are you supposed to be anyway?”

“Wha-?” Pyrrha asked, very much thrown off by the question. “You… don’t know me either?”

“Should I?”

“And you get on me for being blunt Rae,” Summer commented and looked at a bewildered Pyrrha. She pointed behind her and said, “Anyway, the assembly hall is this way. Um, we can give introductions along the way.”

* * *

“And that is why you need to get that stuff out of your hair as soon as possible. Ants are the worst,” Qrow finished telling Jaune as they walked outside and toward the assembly hall. “So did you get all of that kid?”

“Um… no?” Jaune replied slowly, “Wait, how often do you get egg in your hair?” Qrow turned around and pointed at Jaune, who stopped short before he ran into the finger.

“Life lesson number 45: women are dangerous, especially if they decide to gang up on you. And if you ever end up pissing off an energetic girl, just kiss your ass goodbye because they will never _forget_ a slight.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah.” One last turn and Jaune got a good idea of what Qrow meant as he heard a sharp, feral cry of a wild animal, nearly as ferocious as any Creature of Grimm, fill the air around them.

“SUMMER! DAMN YOU AND YOUR KING TAITIJU!” Jaune looked around in shock until Qrow pointed over at the assembly hall where Summer and Raven where sitting and staring at their scrolls, the latter much more angry than the former.

“And lesson 46: Women are very competitive, in all things. Best not to get in their way when they do.” Qrow lead the way to them and pointed at an open door that several people were walking into.

“Your orientation is in there, so have fun with that.” Qrow then waved Jaune off and walked over to Raven and Summer.

“Wait, what? But-“ Jaune started before sighing and following the other students into the assembly hall. He threw one last look at his ‘guides’ before he focused on the crowd in front of him, trying to find a certain red head.

“There you are.” Jaune jumped a little and looked behind him to see Pyrrha holding back a laugh. “I was worried you wouldn’t make it Jaune. You didn’t miss anything, in case you’re wondering.”

“Thanks. It… took a while to find a bathroom. You had better luck than me it seems.”

“Summer and Raven are… characters, to say the least.” Pyrrha rubbed her chin and closed her eyes in thought. “Still, I can’t help but think they feel… familiar.”

“Do they? I’d think you’d remember someone like them.” Pyrrha tapped her chin at Jaune’s words before nodding.

“You’re right. I think I’m just being paranoid. Still though…” Pyrrha’s train of thought stopped when the sound of someone clearing their throat echoed through the hall and she, Jaune, and everyone around them looked to the stage. In the center of the stage was a middle-aged man with white hair and dressed in a black and green suit with Glynda Goodwitch standing behind and to the side of him. _‘That must be Professor Ozpin, the headmaster,’_ Pyrrha thought as the man adjusted his glasses.

“I’ll keep this brief,” he started. “Each of you have come here for one reason: to become Huntsman, the first line of defense against the horrors of the world. You all trained for years and faced many hardships to get to where you are today. Some would call you the best, but when I look at you I see wasted potential waiting for direction. I can show you it, but it’ll be up to you to make that first step.”  
Ozpin then smiled a little and added, “That being said, this is still a school. So try and have fun, and make this the greatest four years of your lives. You won’t get them back after all.” Ozpin nodded at the crowd and walked away, leaving Glynda to approach the microphone.

“All of you will be sleeping in the dance hall tonight, and tomorrow morning you will have your placement exams. Be rested and ready for them.” Glynda followed after Ozpin when she was done, leaving the students to mill among themselves.

“That was… quick,” Jaune said glancing at Pyrrha.

“A man of few words, I’d assume,” Pyrrha answered turning to Jaune. “When you’re the headmaster of one of the major Huntsman academies, you probably learn to get to the point fairly quickly.”

“I guess.” Jaune shrugged and crossed his arms. “So what should we-“

“HEYYA!” Jaune screamed at the sudden shout in his ear, loud and high pitched enough that most of the others around him turned and stared at him. The new girl, orange haired and wearing a combat dress of white, black, and pink, didn’t seem bothered by the scream or even seemed to notice that he had screamed. Instead, she asked, “Do you know what a sloth sounds like?”

“A… what?” Jaune asked.

“I’m… afraid not, no,” Pyrrha replied in confusion.

“Darn. I’ll have to think about that more,” the girl said scratching her chin. “Maybe an injured Boarbatusk will work better? Or something drowning in tar? Speaking of, I haven’t eaten anything today yet and tar cake sounds good right now. Have you ever had that?”

“I-“

“Nah, you look like you’ve only ever had cereal and celery. And you-“ she pointed at Pyrrha, “-look like you’ve been _on_ cereal! Maybe it’s just the way you wear your hair? I love the color by the way, it reminds me of peppers or rubies. Wouldn’t recommend eating the later though, I got a bad tooth ache when I tried it.”

“What-“ Pyrrha started.

“Or maybe that was just rock candy? It’s hard to tell sometimes when you’re at a buffet. What was I talking about? Oh yeah, are you sure you don’t know what a sloth sounds like?” Thankfully Jaune and Pyrrha were saved from answering that question when a boy with black hair and a green jacket walked over and grabbed the girl’s shoulder.

“Nora, don’t bother strangers,” he said and looked at Jaune and Pyrrha, “I apologize for any trouble. I’ll keep a closer eye on her from now on.” He then proceeded to drag Nora away, her feet digging into the floor slightly, as she was lost in another train of thought.

Jaune watched them until they were out of sight and said, “Well… that happened.”

“She certainly seemed interesting,” Pyrrha agreed and clapped her hands in front of her. “And on that note, why don’t we get back to our tour guides? I’d like to get to know our new home better, don’t you?”

“Yeah, you’re right. After you.” Pyrrha nodded and led the way outside. She squinted a little at the sunlight before walking over to where she had left Summer and Raven. Raven was now standing up and angrily poking at her scroll’s screen with Qrow looking over her shoulder while Summer sat to the side with a smile.

“Dammit!” Raven finally shouted and threw her scroll angrily, which Pyrrha managed to catch before it actually hit her.

“Heh, thanks for the free crates Raven,” Summer chuckled and stood up.

“Shut up! I almost had you!”

“You almost did, I’ll admit. ‘Almost’ is still a loss in the game though.” Summer laughed again at Raven’s glare before she noticed Jaune and Pyrrha walk up to them. “Oh, you’re done? Huh, I guess I forgot how short Oz’s speeches can be.”

“Is he always like that?” Jaune asked as Pyrrha handed Raven her scroll back. “With his speeches I mean.”

“If it’s anything like the speech we got, probably,” Qrow said with a quick shake of his head. “Unless he’s talking about fairy tales that is, then he just goes on.”

“Fairy tales?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Summer said putting her scroll away. “So, what’s the agenda for the rest of the day?”

“Well,” Pyrrha started, “I guess we have the day to ourselves until we have to bed down in the dance hall. They… weren’t exactly clear on the free time though.”

“It’ll be fine,” Qrow replied turning around. “The only real hardass when it comes to schedules here is Goodwitch.”

“She’s more than enough though,” Raven added.

“In any case, let’s get the tour started proper,” Summer said before chuckling to herself and whispering, “This’ll be perfect practice for me.”

“Practice?” Jaune asked, though Summer ignored him and turned around to walk down a path. “With what, talking to people? She can’t be that bad.”

“You’d be wrong. It took her six months to talk to us normally,” Qrow said and moved to follow Summer.

“And even then, we all had to be threatened with expulsion to get that started,” Raven added. She then leaned closer to Pyrrha and Jaune with a glare, “And don’t ask about that, we won’t answer. Now let’s get this shit over with already. I got things to do.”

Jaune blinked at that and glanced at Pyrrha, who stared after Raven as she walked away with her arms behind her head. Pyrrha met Jaune’s look and shrugged before the two set off as well.

* * *

The next few minutes of walking were spent going over the basic layout of Beacon Academy; the main buildings with the classrooms and training halls, the student and faculty dorms (“You’ll get assigned your own room there in a few days… if you survive,” Raven had said cryptically, to Jaune’s worry), and the group was passing through an open part of the courtyard when Summer stopped and spun on her heels.

“Do you mind if I ask an odd question Pyrrha?” she asked as the group stopped as well.

“I suppose not,” Pyrrha replied rubbing her arm nervously, “As long as it’s not too out there.”

“Don’t worry. I just want to see your weapon.”

“My… weapon?”

“And there it is,” Qrow said shaking his head and glancing at Summer, “You’re seriously going to just flat out ask her that?”

“Of course, I’m curious,” Summer said crossing her arms. “Besides, there’s so much you can tell about a person from their weapon. Extensions of ourselves and all that.”

“Why are you looking at me when you say that?” Raven asked.

“Why so defensive Raven?”

“Back to the topic at hand,” Pyrrha said grabbing Summer’s attention back, “while I don’t mind showing you, is there a reason besides simple curiosity?”

“No.” The bluntness threw Pyrrha off and, after a few seconds of silent staring between the two, Pyrrha slowly reached behind her to draw Miló and held it out to Summer. She took the weapon with a smile and said, “Thank you. Let’s walk and talk about this beauty. What’s her name?”

“Why are you like this?” Raven muttered to herself as the group resumed walking.

“Miló, and I have a shield named Akoúo to match,” Pyrrha answered and watched Summer run a finger along Miló’s edge and weighed the short sword in her hand.

“Nice name,” Summer complimented just as she found a switch on the sword’s handle. She pressed it and barely suppressed a gasp when the sword extended into a javelin with a series of mechanical clicks, though she couldn’t hide the excitement when she added, “And it’s a javelin too! That’s a great choice to compliment the sword.”

“Er, thank you,” Pyrrha said quietly and rubbed her neck.

“Please don’t encourage her,” Qrow replied with a shake of his head. Summer ignored that in favor of further inspecting the new javelin. She hummed when she found another switch and pressed it before spinning it in her hand into a reverse hold while it shifted into a rifle.

“Ooh, a three-in-one package! I _really_ love this one,” Summer said as she aimed down the sights away from any buildings. Once she was satisfied with that she shifted the rifle so she could gently pull back the bolt halfway. “.30 caliber rounds, and the feeding ramp is polished to a mirror sheen. I don’t think there’s any rattle either. You take good care of this.”

“A Huntress is only as good as her weapon, or so my father always says,” Pyrrha said with a small shrug as Summer turned to her with a small smile. With another twirl Miló was back in sword form and held out so Pyrrha could take it back.

“You’ll do well here. I can tell you’ve seen a fair share of combat,” Summer added scratching her cheek. “And you alone probably have a more balanced fighting style than my whole team. Qrow.”

“For the last time,” Qrow said with no small amount of irritation, “I’m not modifying Harbinger into a sniper rifle!”

“But it’d be cool! And we need that kind of diversity!”

“Don’t _you_ talk to me about diversity Summer! We all know how you’re like with that!”

“I’m not having this argument with you again Qrow! Sniper Scythes are cool, end of story! There will come a day when you realize I’m right, like always!” Summer and Qrow locked eyes for a few seconds, with Jaune and Pyrrha watching uncomfortably and Raven yawned quietly.

“So…” Jaune started after a moment, “Where do we eat?”

“…This way.”

* * *

“And over there’s the dining hall,” Summer said pointing at the building. “Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all served at regular times, though that doesn’t necessarily mean you _have_ to eat there. You can order outside food deliveries as long as you clean up after yourselves.”

“The headmaster allows that?” Pyrrha asked surprised. “Isn’t that a little odd?”

“Old Oz ain’t exactly orthodox by any means,” Qrow answered. “As long as you continually improve yourself and follow the listed rules, he doesn’t really mind.”

“For instance,” Raven added crossing her arms, “if you prefer cooking your own food, there’s a kitchen on every floor in the dorms for that. You can get ingredients from the kitchen staff, and as long as you don’t take too much they don’t mind. It’s a great system, especially if you have a good cook like Summer with you.”

“Don’t build me up like that,” Summer said quietly, “I’m not that good.”

“Says the girl who saved us from a camping trip of eating cup noodles with nothing but her skills and a portable stove.”

“We can go camping here?!” Jaune piped up excitedly.

“Only if you’re absolutely awful,” Qrow said immediately crushing Jaune’s spirit. “It’s supposed to be a last ditch effort to strengthen teamwork. If you go on that trip, you’re one step away from expulsion.”

“Well, thanks for the notice,” Pyrrha said glancing over at Jaune, who looked about ready to vomit again. “So… shall we continue the tour? They said we’ll be sleeping in the dance hall tonight.”

“Oh yeah, that.” Qrow looked over at Summer, who was staring very intently at Jaune, or rather between his pale face and the sword hanging from his waist. _‘He really doesn’t look too good. I probably spooked him too much just now.’_ “I’ll show you where that is. You’re friend can catch up when he’s feeling better. Do you mind watching him until then Summer?”

“What?” Summer stammered, looking at Qrow with wide eyes. “Oh… um, ok.”

“Great, let’s go Rae.”

“Sure,” Raven said flatly.

“But what about- gah!” Pyrrha started to say before Raven wrapped an arm around her neck and dragged her along.

“Come on kid, I want to get this over with.” Raven held fast as Pyrrha flailed in her grip as they walked away, though eventually she accepted her fate and let herself get dragged away.

“Raven’s certainly gotten more sociable,” Summer commented and shook her head, “even if she could use some work on her manners. Oh well.” Summer turned back to Jaune, who was already looking better, and rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. “So… are you feeling better now?”

“Yeah, I just wasn’t expecting that.” Jaune rubbed the back of his neck and asked, “Are your friends always like that?”

“Yeah, but don’t hold it against them. They’re naturally direct and… didn’t exactly have good childhoods.” Summer looked down at the ground and rubbed an arm under her cloak.

“Ok… what do you mean?”

“…Here’s a tip Jaune: don’t ask that question. Nobody has a happy past here; I’d be surprised if _you_ did.” Jaune looked away with a slight scowl, proving Summer’s point. “If anyone wants to share that, it’s their choice. And don’t say anything to them about this conversation, ok?”

“Yeah, I got it,” Jaune answered with a sigh.

“Good.” Summer then clapped her hands and flashed her best smile as she asked, “So, care to share your weapon?”

“Share?” Jaune stared at Summer for a moment before he realized. “Oh right, you were talking about that earlier.” As he was reaching for his sword he remembered how impressed Summer was with Pyrrha’s weapon and felt a rock form in his gut. He managed to hide it as he drew his sword, though he couldn’t keep the sheepishness out of his voice as he said, “Well, I have this sword.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” Summer said calmly and held a hand out, “May I?” Jaune blinked a couple times before he carefully handed the sword to Summer. “So does she have a name?” she asked giving it a few practice swings.

“Um…” _‘Damn, what was it again?!’_ “Crocea Mors! And um… I also have this shield.” Jaune pulled out his scabbard and unfolded it into a shield.

“A simple sword and board combo? You don’t see that a lot nowadays.” Summer looked the shield over and asked, “So do they do anything else?” Summer tapped the shield and jumped back when it folded and unfolded rapidly, forcing Jaune to juggle it for a moment before it unfolded into his face and knocked him flat onto the ground. “Sorry! I didn’t-“

“It’s alright,” Jaune moaned and sat up. He rubbed the sore spot on his face and said, “It’s not the first time that’s happened to me anyway.” He pushed himself up to his feet and picked up his shield and folded it up again. “Anyway, the shield gets smaller. So… I can put it away when I don’t want to carry it.” He put it back on his waist to demonstrate, giving a cheesy grin in the process.

“Doesn’t it weigh the same though?” Summer asked quietly. Jaune dropped the grin and nodded quietly. “Well, that’s good for exercise I suppose.” Summer held the sword up again and ran a finger along the edge. “That aside, this is a really good sword. It must have been a pain to forge huh?”

“F-forge?”

“Well, I don’t know about other prep academies, but at Signal we had to make our own weapons. It took me three tries to get York how I wanted it. Then again, this doesn’t have a Dust injection system like York, so it was probably easier huh?”

“I… didn’t make it,” Jaune admitted rubbing the back of his head. “It’s a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it in the Great War.”

“Really, this is eighty years old?” Summer asked looking down at the sword with wide eyes. Then she blinked and asked, “Wait, you said your name was Arc right?”

“Y-yeah…”

“As in Gustav Arc?! The hero of the Great War who helped thousands of soldiers survive the biggest Grimm ambush in history?!”

“That would be him, yes…” Jaune looked down in embarrassment or… disappointment?

 _‘No, why would he be disappointed?’_ Summer shook the thought away and looked back down at the literal piece of history in her hands and smiled widely. “I knew it.”

“Knew what?” Jaune was back to just confusion as Summer planted Crocea Mors point down and leaned on it.

“I had a good feeling about you, and my gut is hardly ever wrong about people. I’m looking forward to what you can do once you cut your teeth a little.” Jaune’s expression darkened a little before he smiled again. Summer lifted the sword and held it out to Jaune and said, “That aside, this is a great weapon. Don’t be ashamed by how simple it is. In this age of baseball bat-rocket launchers, everyone underestimates the classics.”

“I-I’m sorry, what?” Jaune asked taking and sheathing the sword.

“Oh that’s a story. If you survive your exam tomorrow, I’ll tell you all about it.” Jaune was suddenly feeling sick again, though Summer ignored it in favor of looking around for her teammates. “You didn’t happen to see where the others went, did you?”

“I... they were going to the dance hall, weren’t they?”

“Right, the dance hall! Of course!” Summer held a finger in the air and froze for a few seconds before she started laughing nervously.

“What?” Jaune asked. Summer turned to him with the _reddest_ blush on her face and pressed her fingers together nervously.

“I… forgot where it is,” she replied and continued laughing awkwardly.

Jaune could only stare at her in disbelief.


	3. Upcoming trials

“And even though I spent the whole time running for my life with my Aura up, it _still_ took days for the bruises she gave me to go away. And that’s why you never tell a waitress your full name, no matter how cute she is.”

“Ten… minutes…” Pyrrha growled out, both her eyes and hands twitching as she focused every fiber of her being to keep from strangling Qrow. “That’s how long you’ve been rambling about nothing while we’ve been waiting for our friends to show up.” She looked over at Raven, who had the sheer _audacity_ to look bored at this as she leaned against the dance hall’s wall with her arms crossed.

“You think this is bad, he’s usually much worse. He must be holding back something fierce.” Raven’s words did nothing to calm Pyrrha down, her whole body shaking as she narrowed her eyes at Qrow as he shrugged. Raven pushed off the wall and looked down the path they had came from. “Speaking of holding back, where the hell is Summer?” she asked scratching her head, “She was supposed to be right behind us.”

“Maybe she got lost,” Qrow said flatly.

“There’s no way. We’ve been here for how long now? She couldn’t possible have gotten lost.” Suddenly a heavy guitar riff started playing and Raven pulled out her scroll and flicked it open. “Well, look who it is,” Raven said showing the picture of Summer to Qrow and Pyrrha before she answered the call, shutting off the music.

“Summer, where are you?” Raven listened for a moment before her eyes dropped in annoyance and she crossed her arms. “We’re in front of the dance hall… what do you mean you’re lost?” Qrow laughed once before covering his mouth with a hand. “It was a literal straight line Summer, you just had to follow the path. What do you mean you lost the path?! Tell me what you did!” Qrow laughed again and looked to be close to breaking down.

_‘I-is this normal here?’_ Pyrrha thought as Raven listened to Summer, her foot tapping faster and faster as it went on. Then her eyes narrowed as a horrifying thought came to her. _‘Wait, this won’t happen to me will it?! Oh please no…’_

“I’ve heard enough! You’ve been here for a year and you _still_ can’t get the basic layout of this place memorized! _I_ remember where the dance hall is, and I haven’t been there since our first day! It’s a wonder you can even make it to classes without our help!” Raven listened for a moment before shouting, “I don’t care if there’s a fight going on! You get your ass over here now! I had to listen to Qrow’s waitress story _again_ , and I think he actually added details this time!” She listened for a little longer before she quirked an eyebrow.

“Who’s he fighting? Seriously?” Raven smiled widely and added, “I’m always down for seeing him get his ass kicked by her. We’re heading your way, get somewhere open.” Raven closed her scroll and chuckled as she put it away.

“What was…?” Pyrrha started.

“Tai’s fighting Velvet. We gotta see him get trounced.” Raven snapped her fingers and a portal opened next to her. Pyrrha jumped a little at the sudden appearance, though Qrow only casually walked forward.

“I was wondering where he was. Let’s see if he loses some teeth to Velvet.” Qrow then walked into the portal and disappeared from sight. Pyrrha followed carefully and slowly poked the portal with a finger, watching it disappear into the blackness.

“I-It is safe right?” She asked looking to the side where Raven used to be.

“Stop wasting time!” Raven shouted and kicked Pyrrha from behind, causing the redhead to stumble and trip into the portal with a scream. A second later she emerged from the other side and fell to the ground, managing to at least raise her arms to shield her face. When she heard people cheering she saw a small crowd in front of her watching what she assumed was the fight Raven had mentioned.

“Look out,” Raven said walking out of the portal and stepping over Pyrrha. The portal shut just as Raven started pushing her way through the crowd to the front.

“Hey Pyrrha, you ok?” Pyrrha blinked and looked up at Jaune reaching a hand out to her. She nodded and took the hand so Jaune could lift her up to her feet. “Well that’s good. Sorry about all that, we got a little lost.”

“I heard,” Pyrrha said checking her clothes. There was a sound of something heavy getting hit and the crowd roared in excitement. “How did that happen anyway?”

“I don’t know and neither does Summer. Hopefully you had a better time than me hanging out with Qrow and Raven,” Jaune joked with a small chuckle.

“I’d rather be lost in a desert with a canteen of salt water,” Pyrrha replied coldly with a look of anger that Jaune didn’t know the girl was _capable_ of. It passed as quickly as it appeared though and she looked over at the crowd as more sounds of fighting echoed from the other side. “Shouldn’t we stop this? They could get in trouble for fighting like this couldn’t they?”

“I actually asked about that,” Jaune said walking over to the edge of the crowd with Pyrrha following, “and I guess spars like this are allowed as long as ‘nothing important is damaged’ and ‘they abide by all tournament dueling rules’, whatever that means. I have to say though, if _this_ is what a spar is like, I’d hate to see an actual fight.” Once Pyrrha could see the fighters, she saw what he meant.

On one side was an older boy with blonde hair, dressed in a white shirt with a brown vest over it, cargo shorts and boots jumping away from his opponent. She was a Rabbit Faunus with a brown ensemble of a long sleeved jacket, shorts, and boots over a black body suit. She had just missed a kick and settled back into a wide stance while he did the same a few feet away.

“Come on Tai, make us proud!” Pyrrha looked over at the sound of Summer’s voice and found the hooded girl bouncing excitedly at the front of the crowd with Qrow and Raven on both of her sides.

“Break his nose Velvet!” Raven shouted shooting a fist in the air and grinning like a madwoman.

“Whose side are you on?!” The boy (Tai, Pyrrha figured) shouted and glared at Raven.

“Come on, clock’s ticking!” A different girl nearby shouted at the fighters. When Pyrrha saw her, she couldn’t help but stare at her wardrobe which simply screamed fashionable, especially the beret and sunglasses. “Either hit each other or just quit!”

_‘She must be the referee,’_ Pyrrha thought to herself when she saw the two scrolls in the girl’s hands. _‘I… suppose it’ll be ok if someone is keeping an eye on their Aura.’_

“Alright, Rebel two!” Velvet shouted and ran toward Tai. She reared a hand back and threw a straight right at his head, which he managed to dodge at the last second. Velvet gasped as her arm was grabbed and Tai flipped her over his body and onto her back, dodging back once she was on the ground to get some space.

“I wasn’t ready yet Vel!” Tai shouted in annoyance as Velvet rolled to her feet.

“You snooze you lose Taiyang,” she said and rushed forward again, this time going for a low kick at Tai’s legs. He jumped over the kick and threw a punch as Velvet spun on the spot, which hit her shoulder and flared an orange Aura over her body. She countered with a kick to his side, landing squarely and sending Tai stumbling to the side with a yellow flash of Aura. The stumble didn’t last very long before Velvet was on Tai again with a flurry of punches.

Pyrrha couldn’t help the building excitement as she watched the two fight, with every punch, kick, dodge, and counterattack flowing into each other like a heavily practiced dance. She glanced over to see Jaune was mesmerized by the fight. Still, at least he was far more composed than _some people._

“Go for her eyes Tai, they’re her weakness!”

“Aim low Velvet, you know you want to!”

“Shut up!” Both Taiyang and Velvet shouted as they both threw a punch that connected with the other. Along with the flaring Aura from both of them, Pyrrha thought she saw a sonic boom from the impact.

_‘Nah, that’s silly.’_

Taiyang and Velvet reared back their other arms for another punch when a small blue flash appeared on Velvet’s arm. She realized something had gone wrong when her punch slowed enough for Taiyang to move his head out of the way. His punch hit its mark, slamming into Velvet’s cheek and sending her airborne for a moment before landing face first on the ground. Her legs dangled in the air for a moment before they fell down so she was laying fully on her front.

“Oh crap!” Taiyang shouted with a flinch while the crowd ‘oohed’ in sympathy.

“Her Aura’s in the red now, fight’s over,” the referee said and walked over to the still Faunus and bent over her. She slid her glasses down her nose a little to glance over the frames and asked, “Are you ok Velvet? Still conscious?” After a few seconds Velvet slowly lifted an arm up and gave a thumbs up. “She’s good everyone, the show’s over now!” There was some muttering from the crowd as they dispersed, leaving only Pyrrha, Jaune, and a couple others including Summer and friends.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” Taiyang asked worriedly as Velvet started picking herself up. “I swear I didn’t mean to hit you so hard!”

“I’m fine, really,” Velvet said pushing herself to her feet and brushing her clothes off, “Seriously, every time I take a slight hit you guys worry.”

“What happened?” Summer asked walking over with Qrow and Raven behind her, the later breaking off to stand next to Taiyang.

“I lost power,” Velvet replied tapping a box strapped to her side with a hand, “there must be a few more kinks in the power supply I didn’t catch. Well, catching these safely are what these spars are for right?” She turned to Taiyang and held a hand out. “Thanks for the help Tai, I can always count on you to help with dirty work.”

“Yeah, he’s pretty whipped isn’t he?” Raven said slapping the blonde’s shoulder, “at least with pretty girls.”

“Shut up Rae!” Taiyang said waving the girl off and walking to Velvet, slapping her hand once then backhanding it and ending with a fist bump. “And don’t worry Vel, anything to help an old school rival.”

“Oh, is that what I am now?” Velvet asked with a grin. Then she noticed Jaune and Pyrrha standing to the side and tilted her head. “And you two are?”

“O-Oh… um,” Jaune stuttered at the sudden attention.

“They’re a couple of newbies we got roped into babysitting,” Qrow answered flatly.

“Roped? How did that happen?” the girl in the beret asked, tilting her sunglasses down again as she looked at Summer.

“Well, we were bored and Raven brought a carton of eggs, so-“ she started.

“Never mind, that explains everything. Seriously, only you guys…” Beret shook her head and moved over to Pyrrha and Jaune. “Bad luck for you guys getting mixed up with this carnival on your first day here.”

“Hey!”

“She’s not wrong,” Taiyang said with a sigh, “Seriously, didn’t I tell you guys to not do something to get us in trouble?”

“Us he says, while deliberately avoiding us for the day,” Qrow said shaking his head slightly.

“For a good reason, as it turns out!”

“…Like I said, tough luck,” Beret said and held out a hand to Pyrrha.

“They’re not that bad, when they’re not talking about waitresses,” Pyrrha said taking the offered hand and shaking and trying very much to ignore the snickering Summer and Taiyang. _‘It’s not worth it Pyrrha.’_ “In any case, it’s nice to meet you. My name is Pyrrha Nikos and this is Jaune Arc.” Pyrrha motioned to Jaune, who waved at the group. “It’s nice to meet you miss…?”

“Coco Adel, and I think I’m going to like you,” Coco said pushing her glasses up with a smile. “And since we’re doing introductions, you already met Velvet.”

“Hi, and eggs huh?” Said girl asked shaking her head, “You got lucky, usually they’re a lot worse than that.”

“How… do you mean?” Jaune asked.

“Well, last time they did something the cafeteria had to be evacuated from the smell.”

“Oh yeah, the stink bombs from Atlas,” Raven said with a chuckle, “They were expensive, but worth it. Taught you guys to mess with my laundry.”

“Wait, _that’s_ why you did that?!” One of the other boys, a redhead with white eyes, said.

“Would it _really_ surprise you Fox?” Coco answered, “That’s Fox by the way, and the big guy is Yatsuhashi.” The now named Yatsuhashi nodded at Jaune and Pyrrha, who both decided independently not to upset him. A sudden burst of white rose petals drew Pyrrha and Jaune’s attention to Summer leaning against Taiyang.

“And rounding out my retinue is Taiyang ‘three for three’ Xiao Long,” Summer said with a small hint of pride, even though the blonde’s eyes widened and face palmed. “He may look scruffy, but you won’t find a more dependable guy than him.”

“Three for three?” Jaune asked, looking around in confusion as most of the others started laughing under their breaths.

“It’s a dumb joke, don’t look too far into it.” Taiyang shook his head and dragged his hand down his face before pulling away from Summer and Raven and walking up to Pyrrha. “That aside, you said your name is Pyrrha Nikos?” Pyrrha nodded and Tai hummed and rubbed his chin in thought. “So you ended up coming to Beacon huh? I would have figured you go to Haven.”

“I… had my reasons,” Pyrrha said carefully.

“Everyone does, but you won’t hear me complain. Welcome to Beacon!” Taiyang held out a hand to Pyrrha, who took and shook it.

“Thank you,” she said trying not to flinch from Taiyang’s grip. _‘He’s a lot stronger than he looks, and he already looks pretty strong.’_

“You know her Tai?” Summer asked.

“Of course I do,” Taiyang said turning to the assembled crowd. “Pyrrha Nikos placed top of her class at Sanctum Academy and won the Mistral Regional Tournament _four years in a row!_ No one our age has ever done that.” Taiyang’s gushing however was met only with silence and blank stares from everyone that lasted an uncomfortable few seconds. Pyrrha was about to say _anything_ to break the silence when Taiyang expressed his outrage. Loudly.

“REALLY, NOTHING?! None of you know what I’m talking about?!”

“You’re the only one here who actually follows that stuff Taiyang,” Fox said scratching his chin.

“Are you serious?! She made the news when it happened! NONE OF YOU SAW THAT?!”

“In case you forgot, we were all busy with our own thing at the time Tai,” Qrow said ruffling his hair. “You know, the _massive_ thing that took up literally all of our free time?”

“Plus,” Raven added crossing her arms, “You’re the only one who actually cares about any sports at all.”

“Speak for yourself Raven, I like to watch a sport,” Summer said glancing at the brunette.

“…Right, except for that one. How is the League doing?”

“The new season is starting soon. And you know me, I’m still rooting for Team-“

“SHUT UP YOU MORONS!” Taiyang shouted and pointed at Pyrrha, ignoring the glares the girls were giving him. “You’re in the presence of a documented badass! Fucking acknowledge her!”

“Language,” Yatsuhashi said sternly.

“Yeah, you’re usually _much_ more creative with your swears when you’re angry,” Raven added with a smirk, “You’re losing you’re touch.”

“Listen, you little-!” Taiyang started.

“Stop!” Pyrrha shouted, getting everyone’s attention. “It’s fine! Really, I don’t mind them not knowing me! Just stop fighting!” Pyrrha took a couple of breaths and only now realized just how loud she was just being. “Um… sorry.”

“No, it’s alright. Sometimes my temper gets away from me,” Taiyang said before looking over at Raven and growled out, “We’ll finish this later.”

“Bring it bitch,” Raven answered with a smile and punched a palm, “We both know who’ll win that fight.”

“Language,” Yatsuhashi said again, which got him a soft pat on the arm from Velvet. Then a chime sounded in the air, followed by Glynda’s voice.

_“Attention all second year students, please report to the Assembly Hall. I repeat, all second year students please report to the Assembly hall.”_

“What is that about?” Fox asked as the closing chime sounded.

“Didn’t something like that happen last year?” Summer asked looking over at Coco.

“Yep. I guess we’re going to find out what it’s about now.” Coco started walking and motioned for her team to follow. Fox, Velvet, and Yatsuhashi followed after her, with Velvet giving one last wave to Jaune and Pyrrha.

“We should get going too,” Qrow said and started walking away, “I don’t want to push my luck anymore today.” Summer, Raven, and Taiyang shared a look until Raven shrugged and followed her brother.

“S-so wait, are we done?” Jaune asked scratching his head, “Like… the tour is over?”

“Beacon’s not that hard to get around in, despite my mess up,” Summer answered, “You can feel your way around the rest of the academy by yourself. So, yes, the tour is over.”

“Mostly by virtue of there being something better to do,” Taiyang said with a nod, “Not like I was involved mind you. Still, it was nice to meet you two. I look forward to seeing you again… if you survive tomorrow.” Taiyang chuckled and ran off to join Raven and Qrow.

“I’m getting sick of everyone saying that to us,” Jaune said with a scowl.

“So am I,” Pyrrha replied and looked at Summer, “Does that have to do with the exam we have to do?”

“I can’t tell you that,” Summer said with a shake of her head, “It would skew your results and I could get expelled for it. But don’t worry, you made it this far on your own merits so you’ll be fine. Just… don’t die. That should be easy.” Summer couldn’t help the grin she shot the pair as she vanished in a flurry of petals, leaving them suitably annoyed.

“Really getting old. Oh well, nothing we can do for it I suppose.” Pyrrha turned to Jaune and clasped her hands in front of her, “But she is right. If we just do our best tomorrow I’m sure we’ll be alright. Right Jaune?” When Jaune didn’t immediately answer she called out his name again.

“Huh? Oh yeah, you’re right. Hey, where is the dance hall?”

“Oh is that all? I was just there, so it’s right over…” Only then did Pyrrha realize the problem with her plan. “Um… where are we? Maybe we should look for it.”

“Sounds good to me.”

* * *

Summer caught up to Taiyang just as he found the Qrow and Raven and the four of them toward the assembly hall in the middle of the campus. It was not a quiet walk thanks to Taiyang.

“I still can’t believe you guys! Who throws eggs at incoming students?!” Taiyang pointed at Summer next. “And I especially can’t believe _you_ would let that happen!”

“I got caught up in the moment,” Summer defended tugging on the edge of her hood, “but the fun was worth it.”

“God,” Taiyang rubbed his forehead, “you’re all lucky that you just got saddled with grunt work instead of getting suspended or something.”

“They wouldn’t dare,” Qrow said simply.

“Professor Ozpin can only protect us from _small infractions_ Qrow! Even he admitted as much! We have got to be careful!”

“Chill out, we all know that, and it was just throwing eggs anyway,” Raven said shaking her head. “I hope this meeting isn’t about something that’ll ruin the rest of my day. I’ve had enough of that.”

“Oh yeah, so busy you had to take time off to throw eggs at people,” Qrow replied snarkily as they reached the doors to the assembly hall and walked inside. “Still, I wonder what this will be about.”

“We’ll find out soon,” Summer said and started looking over the crowd of second year students. At the moment no one was on the stage, so whatever this assembly would be about wouldn’t start for at least a couple of minutes. That did nothing to abate their growing curiosity.

“Hey STRQ!” Summer perked up and looked around until she saw the girls of Team CFVY waving at them. Summer fought down a smile as she lead her team over to them and settled in for the wait while trying to ignore Coco’s smirk. “Good to see you guys didn’t get into trouble again on your way here.”

“Up yours, at least we’re having fun here,” Raven replied with a small glare, which did nothing but make Coco and Velvet chuckle.

“I guess that’s a word for it. I’d still rather have the kind of fun that won’t land me in ‘Hell Camp’ for a second year.”

“That was actually kind of fun in retrospect,” Taiyang commented, “and it was still miles better than everything else we did last year.”

“Yeah,” was the collective response from the SRQ portion of the team.

A couple of minutes later small talk was starting to run dry and there still wasn’t anyone on the stage. Any kind of joviality was being replaced by a tense anxiousness throughout the crowd. Summer kept kneading the hem of her cloak as her mind raced with all kinds of possibilities for what was going to happen soon, and nearly jumped when Yatsuhashi broke the newly formed silence.

“I still remember how some of our upperclassmen looked last year. It was like they had been put through the wringer.”

“I didn’t think it was that bad,” Taiyang said crossing his arms, “but maybe it was for some of them.”

“We’ll be ok, right?” Qrow asked leaning forward to look at Summer.

“We will,” she answered tugging on a stray strand of hair, “Whatever this will be, we’ve scraped through far worse. All of us.”

“That’s true,” Fox agreed with a nod and turned his head slightly toward Summer. “You know, you never did explain what happened with that airship crash.”

“Ozpin’s here,” Raven said suddenly and straightened her stance. STRQ and CFVY turned their attention forward as the headmaster walked up onto the stage and toward the lone microphone on there. Silently the former team was glad that the topic Fox had brought up had been shelved for at least another day; that had been _way_ too close for any of them to want to talk about yet.

By then Ozpin had reached the microphone and tapped it twice with his cane, letting the feedback get the attention of the assembled students, and started carefully going through the second speech he had planned for the day. “I thank you all for assembling here today. It’s hard to believe that it’s only been a year since you’ve all first assembled here. Hopefully you’re all just as proud of your progress as I am.”

In the crowd more than few students smiled, both widely and softly, in agreement. Summer was glad to have her hood up to hid hers.

“You’ve all had your ups and downs, every challenge unique to every one of you that helped shape you become what you are today.” The air echoed with the sound of a door opening. “This year you will all will encounter the same challenge. And thank you for joining us Team MRGD!”

Try as he might, not even Ozpin could keep the slight annoyance out of his voice at the chronically late Team MRGD (Marigold). Though he at least had more tact then most of the other students who turned and stared at the team, or more specifically their leader who was wide eyed and staring out at the crowd at her failed attempt at sneaking in. To her credit, Maribelle only leaned forward in silent annoyance at being called out like this and slowly led her team toward the back of the crowd out of the spotlight.

_‘There’s always at least one,’_ Ozpin mused to himself. Once they were settled in he continued his speech. “Like I was saying, this year you’ll all be sharing the same challenge; offering guidance, both academically and in the field, to new Huntsman as upperclassmen. While I’m certain you will excel at this, we still need to see for certain that you are well prepared for both that and all of the additional responsibilities that come with it.”

“Oh no…” Raven whispered already knowing where this was going.

“So, in order to decide that, you are all having your own exam… tonight.” Naturally most of the assembled students groaned loudly at this unwelcome surprise. “Yes, I’m well aware of how you feel about unexpected exams, but it’s important for many reasons. And who knows…” Ozpin leaned closer to the microphone and scanned the crowd. “This may give you all some appreciation for _your_ immediate upperclassmen.”

“…Well that gave me chills. Anyone else?” Qrow asked and was thankful that the rest of his group nodded as well.

“The exam will take place at the cliffs overlooking the Emerald Forest at 11 tonight. Be prepared for heavy combat. I’ll explain the exam in detail then.” Ozpin then walked away from the microphone, more or less signaling that the assembly was over and leaving the students to their own business. As the various teams filtered out of the hall to prepare, STRQ and CFVY left together to speculate.

“Heavy combat huh? What exactly does he expect us to fight?” Coco mused.

“He’s going to toss us into Emerald Forest and have us fight our way through Grimm _again_ ,” Taiyang said with a groan, “as if we don’t do that enough.”

“That’s not good enough,” Summer said rubbing her chin. “If this is supposed to be a test to see how far we’ve come then hunting Grimm won’t be enough.”

“Then there’s that ‘appreciating our upperclassmen’ comment,” Fox added, “so it’s something that’s already been done before and has affected us in that respect. That narrows it down a bit.”

“It’s certainly interesting,” Coco said before smirking and lowering her sunglasses. “Hey Summer, wanna make a side bet to this exam? You know, spice it up a bit?”

“Why don’t we wait to see what the exam actually is before that?” Summer said before shaking her head slightly and added, “Though we probably will end up doing that.”

“It’s a deal then. I look forward to kicking your asses again.” Coco gave a chuckle as she pushed her glasses back up and walking down a path away from STRQ, Yatsuhashi and Fox waving goodbye and Velvet stared at Taiyang and drew a line across her throat before jogging after her team.

“And they’re at it again,” Taiyang said crossing his arms behind his head and smirking, “Still, it’s good incentive to push ourselves. I don’t want _them_ to get bragging rights over us right?”

“Agreed,” the twins answered simultaneously.

“Then we better be ready for anything,” Summer said turning and leading her team to their dorm room. “So what’s the weather going to be like tonight?”

“Hold on,” Qrow said taking out his scroll. After a moment he groaned and said, “Just our luck, it looks like it’s going to rain. Heavy rain at that.”

“For I am a rain dog too,” Summer said with a quick giggle. “Let’s not worry about that, a little rain in the field never hurt anyone. Let’s get what we can together for tonight and then-“

“Speaking of, did you ever get the Dust and bullets we sent you out for last night?” Raven asked suddenly, bringing their leader to a sudden halt. “I didn’t bring it up earlier, what with the robbery and all, but now that we’re free…” Raven stopped when she noticed that she was walking by herself and looked back to see Taiyang and Qrow looking at Summer, who wasn’t moving, or speaking, or _breathing_.

“Oh that’s a loud silence,” Qrow said carefully putting his scroll away. A few more seconds passed before Taiyang moved forward and tapped Summer’s shoulder.

“Uh… Sum… are you ok?” he asked and was relieved when his leader took a deep breath.

“DAAAAAAMMMMIIIIIIIIITTTTTT!”

* * *

The rest of the day passed by without incident (aside from some students being treated to the interesting sight of Team STRQ rushing to the airship pads for emergency shopping) and before long night had settled over Beacon. While the faculty prepared for the tests tomorrow and the students of all ages were either bedding down or preparing for their own exams, no one was watching the Emerald Forest.

This forest infested with all manners of the Creatures of Grimm made it the perfect place to both new Huntsman to cut their teeth, the veterans to practice the fundamentals, and for one particular individual to spy without being detected. Ruby looked at the lights of Beacon from her mount as it flew around the defensive perimeter that kept the Grimm away. She silently ordered the Griffon into a dive and, when it was low enough, let out a breath and leaned to the side until she slipped off and into a freefall.

She scanned the treetops from her fall and, after settling on particular tree, held her right arm out and focused its essence into the shape of her scythe and solidified it. She flipped forward and swung the weapon down on the thickest branch of the tree, swinging her under the branch and using the momentum to launch back up into the air. She closed her eyes as she backflipped in the air before landing in a crouch, a couple of small craters forming where her feet landed.

Ruby slackened the grip on her scythe, the weapon vaporizing into the air, and she stood up straight. Her red eyes scanned the surrounding forest for any movement, and when she was certain she was alone she started walking through the forest.

_‘I’d better get away from the landing site in case some Huntsman gets too curious,’_ she thought and ran the cold gauntlet down her cheek. _‘As if anyone would be out here anyway. Still, better to stay unseen.’_ After a minute of walking Ruby found a particularly thick grouping of trees and walked toward them, leaning against the one closest to the center. She absentmindedly brushed off her dress before lifting her right arm and focused intently on the palm of her hand.

After a couple of seconds three bubbles formed on the black skin and grew a little before bursting and releasing a Grimm fly from each one. They turned in her hand and stared up at her as she pointed at two of them. “You two investigate everyone in the academy; the students, new and old, and the faculty. Keep your distance and listen closely.” They buzzed their wings in acknowledgement and took flight toward the academy, while the last one skittered a little. “You look for the Parcel. It most likely will be close to Ozpin in some way. That takes priority over anything else you may see.”

Ruby watched the fly take off toward Beacon when she felt a drop of water hit the top of her head. She blinked and looked up as another drop hit her forehead. “How did I not see the clouds?” she wondered aloud as more drops hit her skin as the storm picked up. She spent a minute savoring the feeling of the raindrops hitting her skin before shaking her head and crossing her arms. “What does it matter, the rain will help hide me.” Ruby closed her eyes and focused on one of her spies, willing herself to see though its eyes just as it made its way past the defensive perimeter.

The fly she was looking though was flying next to Beacon Tower before it set its sights on one of the larger side buildings at her insistence. The dance hall, if she remembered correctly, should hold the latest batch of students for tonight. All in all, a great way to see if there’s anyone to worry about for the year. She guided the fly under the front doors and up along one of the walls until it could see the whole room.

Once again Ruby couldn’t help but notice how many of them had already formed into their own little groups despite probably only met in the last few hours. She counted at least three groups of girls gossiping among themselves, a few reading by themselves in a corner, a group of shirtless boys inexplicably flexing for anyone who happened to look their way.

_‘Once again, Queen was worried for nothing,’_ Ruby thought as she focused on a girl with long red hair in golden pajamas straightening the sheets of her cot. _‘This should be… what?’_ The girl she was watching looked up and waved at a blonde boy who had walked up and sat down on the cot next to her. If she could have shot fire at him through the fly’s eyes she would have. _‘Footie pajamas? What are you, five?’_

* * *

“I have to say Pyrrha, it’s kind of weird sleeping in the same room as so many people,” Jaune said rubbing the back of his head and looked around again. “And is it just me, or are people looking at me? Why do you think that is?”

Pyrrha, who was red faced and shaking as she desperately tried to hold her laughter when she had seen Jaune’s pajamas, could only answer, “I can’t imagine why. Maybe they… see something in you?”

“You think so? I suppose that makes me feel better about my chances here.” Poor Pyrrha squeaked and started shaking even harder when he said that. Then she saw that the feet of his pajamas had little rabbit ears, leaving her with no choice but to crawl onto her cot, slowly grab her pillow, and press it against her face so she could (hopefully) let out her laughter quietly. Jaune failed to notice this as he looked around the hall at the others around him.

“You know Pyrrha, I heard some of the other guys in the locker room mention something about teams,” Jaune said climbing on the cot next to Pyrrha’s. “I think they might be right, given Summer and Coco’s friends.”

“Oh really?” Pyrrha managed to say through her pillow.

“Yeah, apparently we’re going to get sorted into teams to help with our education or something. At least that’s what the guys I asked about that said. I hope they’re ok.”

“Why?” Pyrrha asked.

“I think they might have got food poisoning or something. When I was leaving the locker room a minute ago they all ran to the bathroom stalls holding their mouths. I feel fine though, what about you?”

“I’m fine.”

“But your face is all red.”

“I said I’m fine!” Pyrrha managed to recover enough to peek over the pillow, only to see Jaune kicking his feet making the little ears wag and forcing her face back into the pillow. “C-can you stop kicking your feet like that?”

“I can’t help that, I kick my feet when I’m nervous! Though, if a certain someone promises to be on my team it might help with that. It might even help you with _your_ nervous fit you seem to be having.”

“That’s a word for it,” Pyrrha whispered getting her giggles under control again and looking back at Jaune. _‘Just don’t look at his feet.’_ “I would be happy to be on your team Jaune, if we know how they’d be sorted.”

“Well, we could ask Summer. She seems to know a lot.”

“She’d probably just deflect the question again and say-“

“-You’ll find out if you survive tomorrow,” both Jaune and Pyrrha finished together, and then sighed together. “Why do they have to dodge around like that? It’s not like we’re going to die or something tomorrow right?” Jaune asked.

“Um…” There was a flash of light outside followed by a crack of thunder, which caused both Jaune and Pyrrha to jump and look outside the large windows as the rain pelted against it at a faster rate.

“Wow, it’s really coming down out there,” Jaune said scratching his cheek. “Hey, you don’t think that’ll last to tomorrow right?”

“I hope not. If it lasts that long, we’ll be having more than our fair share of problems.”

“What, like pneumonia or something?” Pyrrha blinked and glanced at Jaune just as a white pillow sailed into the back of his head.

“Shut up in here, we’re trying to sleep!” a female voice shouted out.

“NORA!” A male voice shouted right after.

“…Sorry Ren…”

“…She does have a point though, out of place as that was,” Pyrrha said and gently laid down on the cot, “We have a long day tomorrow, so we better rest up.”

“Yeah,” Jaune agreed and tossed the pillow that hit him back where it came from and started settling down as well. He had gotten under the covers and looked back at the window, the raindrops hitting it harder and faster. “Still, I hope this rain stops soon.”

“Mhmm, but you’d have to be crazy to go out in that weather,” Pyrrha agreed before closing her eyes, the sound of rainfall lulling her to sleep.

* * *

“Oh man, this rain is just getting worse,” Taiyang said looking up at the skies and adjusted the hood of his rain cape. STRQ had only barely managed to get to Vale and got what they needed from a Dust Shop before it had closed early (they owed Shopkeep big time for holding onto their order.) and got back to Beacon with only two hours to get ready. Then the rain started and they added _that_ to the preparations.

“You think it’s possible Old Oz will cancel because of the rain?” Taiyang asked looking at his teammates, who had all individually prepared proper clothes for the rain. Taiyang himself had switched out his short sleeved shirt and cargo shorts with a thick sweater and jeans along with the rain cape.

“Not a chance,” Raven said with a sigh, “When has he ever cared about inclement weather?” Raven hadn’t changed her clothes that much, just a thicker material of leggings and a rain cape. If the clothing was too thick it would only hurt her mobility.

“He never does and probably never will,” Summer answered annoyed and tugged on her hood. Summer’s usual attire was more than suitable for the weather, though she had decided to add a set of fingerless gloves for extra grip, just in case it was needed.

“Just our luck, right? Well, not much we can do about that in any case.” Qrow said shaking his head. Qrow had decided not to change a single part of his outfit, opting instead to wear the same thing he had put on that morning. His team was suitably annoyed. 

“You’re going to get pneumonia like that you know,” Taiyang said with a glare at his partner.

“Pfft, who cares? I would probably get it anyway even if I _did_ dress better anyway.” Summer and Raven shook their heads, but otherwise kept their mouths closed as they approached the Beacon Cliffs and other seconds years that were already gathered there. It took a bit of searching before they had found Team CFVY and joined them mid discussion.

“And the Ursa that came out of nowhere only to get shot dead didn’t make sense to me,” Velvet said shaking her hood covered head. “It’s like they made things up to be edgy or something.”

“It made sense to me,” Yatsuhashi said adjusting his straw hat, “It only got weird in the later episodes.”

“…Are you just saying that, or do you really mean that?”

“What on Remnant are you talking about?” Taiyang asked once with a quirk of an eyebrow.

“Oh, nothing important,” Coco said waving a hand. She adjusted the strap of her purse/weapon as she added, “Just our luck to have to do this in the rain huh?”

“Yup,” Qrow said flatly.

“Are… you going to be ok?” Coco asked seeing how Qrow was dressed.

“Yup.”

“Qrow aside, I’m just glad to see everyone learned the same lesson that we did about weather,” Summer said looking around at the surrounding students wearing capes and coats. She tugged on her hood and smiled a little when she said, “I wonder if this is how you feel Coco, always being on the forefront of fashion.”

“This… isn’t quite the same thing, but I’ll take the compliment,” Coco said pushing up the sleeve of her rain coat (different from the one provided by Beacon, no doubt one she had picked out herself) and checked the time on her watch. “10:30 huh? We still have some time. So, what do you think we’ll have to do out here?”

“I haven’t really thought much on it. We’ve… been busy shopping all day.”

“Ran out of Dust again huh?” Fox asked, the rest of his team looking at Raven.

“What?” she asked glaring back at them.

“Nothing,” Velvet said with a shrug, “I shouldn’t be the one to judge on Dust consumption. Anyway, what else-“

“I’m not late!” The sudden shout drew the attention of the two teams as they looked at the leader of Team MRGD ran through the rain and stopped out of breath near the crowd. “I swear I’m not-“ the sheep Faunus stopped when she looked up at the crowd and saw several of them staring at her, but not the one she had dreaded seeing. “Wait... I’m not late. Am I?”

“Nope, you’re actually early,” a voice called out.

“Are Boarbatusk going to start flying now?” Another said. Maribelle only blinked a couple of times at this sudden news before standing straight up, putting her hand on her hips, and laughing happily.

“Ha, I’m a genius! You all thought I couldn’t do it, but I can! So you can all suck it!”

“You still almost over slept you know,” one of her teammates, Redd, said walking up beside her with the rest of the team.

“Details!” She cried out and waved the words away as she led them to STRQ and CFVY, her confident expression falling into one of confusion. “But, I really am early? Isn’t Professor Ozpin usually here about now?”

“You are correct.” Maribelle, and a couple of the other students, jumped a little at the sudden appearance of Professor Ozpin behind MRGD. “Sorry for the delay, I had some trouble finding my umbrella.”

“Oh boo, what about the rest of us?” Raven complained quietly.

“You never get to choose the weather of your jobs Miss Branwen.” Raven flinched a little as Professor Port walked up next to Ozpin, wearing a bright yellow rain coat and dragging a small covered wagon behind him. “Why, when I was a young lad, this would be considered _good_ weather for hunting monsters.”

“Wow, it must have been awful a thousand years ago.” Summer had to try her hardest to hold her laughter in at that.

“Very,” Ozpin replied with a small scowl before nodding to himself. “In any case, since it seems everyone is here, why don’t I explain your exam?” Ozpin looked and nodded at Port, who nodded in return and turned to start digging through the wagon while the students formed around to hear better over the rain. When they were done Ozpin continued.

“If you’ll remember your initiation last year, you were sent into the Emerald Forest in search of relics. There you paired up and retrieved a relic, with the two pairs who found the same relic got formed into the teams that stand here today.” Ozpin waited a second as the students looked among themselves before he continued. “Tomorrow the first year students will be doing the exact same initiation, with the same results. _Your_ exam tonight is to help set up that initiation.”

By this point Professor Port had managed to pull something out of the wagon and handed it to Ozpin, who took it and held it up for the students to see. Summer was a little confused when she saw it was a chess piece, a knight and gold in color. _‘It’s not flowers this year? They must change it every year.’_

“This is one of the relics that the first years will be collecting tomorrow. Every team here will be responsible for seeing one of these relics to its specified ruin for collection. That’s your objective for this exam; simply escort your relic to where its partner is. When that’s done, come back to the academy and you’ll have finished your exam.” Ozpin walked over to Maribelle and placed the Knight piece in her hands before pacing slowly in front of the students. “Are there any questions?”

Summer raised her hand and asked, “What about Grimm? Do we avoid or engage them?”

“I will leave that to your discretion,” Ozpin answered. “Since you are all second years now, one of the new responsibilities you have is the ability to go on missions without supervision. On those missions, just like in this exam, the only assistance you can be provided from the academy will be given before you leave. In the field, you’ll only have yourselves to rely on.

“If you think the best way to accomplish the goal is to avoid Grimm and complete your task as fast as possible, then by all means do so. If you wish to destroy every monster in your path, for its own sake or to protect others, that’s viable as well. Of course you will be evaluated in line with your chosen strategy, but no matter what you do there is one thing you all have to keep in mind.”

“A time limit?” Coco ventured.

“Correct Miss Adel. When the exam starts at 11 you will all have six hours to complete it; that should be more than enough for all of you. However if even one member of your team isn’t out of the forest when time expires, then your whole team fails. And…” Ozpin paused a moment at the nervous second years before he smirked and said, “well, let’s just say the first years will have some… unexpected classmates.”

Judging from the wide eyes from the students, it had the intended effect. “Are there any other questions?” No students raised their hands or asked anything. “Good. Now will all the team leaders come collect a relic from Professor Port, then you may make any last minute preparations you need. If you need clarification on anything, both me and Professor Port will be happy to provide it. And be sure to check the underside of your relics, that doesn’t happen nearly as often as I would like.”

Slowly the leaders of the various teams stepped forward, Summer and Coco just behind the front of the pack. Coco glanced over at Ozpin, who true to his word was explaining something to a few of the students, and nudged Summer with her elbow.

“So, you think he was bluffing about that?” she asked the smaller girl.

“Probably,” Summer answered and stopped next to Port’s wagon. “And even if he wasn’t we should be thankful it isn’t worse. He could have set the whole year back for one team failing.”

“There’s no way anyone would do that,” Coco shook her head and took a gold Bishop piece out of the wagon.

“You never know.” Summer grabbed a gold Rook piece before turning to Professor Port. “So Professor, are there any Grimm to keep an eye out for tonight?” _‘Please don’t say Goliaths!’_

“Nothing extreme tonight, just the normal stock it seems,” Port answered and ran a finger over his mustache. “Still, be wary. Grimm are more aggressive at night and the rain probably won’t help in that matter.” Summer nodded and started walking back to her team with Coco, the latter brushing some stray strands of wet hair out of her eyes and looked over her relic.

“Map coordinates, a diagram of the ruins, that should be easy enough to figure out,” Coco said putting the relic in her purse, “well, at least for some of us.”

“You’re just trying to egg me on Coco, and it’s working,” Summer said when they got back to their group. “So about that side bet, what did you come up with? Grimm kills or what?”

“We were thinking something a little more sporting. You know, give you guys a chance,” Fox answered with a chuckle.

“Funny,” Qrow said shaking his head, “and what about you? Will you be ok in this rain?”

“It helps more than you’d think. The forest may be a different story, but I’ll manage.”

“If you say so,” Taiyang said, “So what did you have in mind?”

“Grimm kills plus mission time,” Velvet said and started counting her fingers. “We divide the Grimm into small, medium, and large categories and tally those up per team. It means we’ll have to keep track of kills, but we’ve already done that several times before right?” Everyone nodded in answer and Velvet continued. “When we tally those up we subtract that from our mission time, I’ll figure that out later, and when it’s all said and done the team with the lowest score wins. Does that make sense?”

“Not in the slightest,” Raven said shaking her head.

“We can either complete the mission quickly with less kills for a good score, or kill a lot of Grimm and hope that offsets the longer mission time, but run the risk of overstaying in the forest. Either way, we don’t want a high number,” Summer said and turned to Raven. “Is that better?”

“…I’m just going to kill everything I see with red eyes, is that ok?”

“Yes Raven, that would be perfect.” Summer shook her head slightly and looked back at Coco. “And what would the prize be?”

“Pizza party, and the loser has to pay,” Coco answered. Summer looked at her teammates, who each nodded in answer. Summer nodded in return and held out a hand to Coco.

“Deal,” she said and let Coco shake her hand.

“Great. Just so you know, Velvet has been on some weird food kick lately. So be ready to spend a lot of money.” Coco laughed and led her team away, Velvet giving STRQ an apologetic look and shrug before following.

“We’ve got to win this,” Taiyang said darkly. “I’ve seen Velvet in one of those moods and it puts any horror movie to shame.”

“Let’s get to planning then,” Summer said holding up the relic in her hands, “Did anyone remember to bring a map?” Raven nonchalantly pulled out a map and held it out to Summer, who took it with a large smile. “Thanks Rae, you’re the best.”

“Yes, I know. So where are we going?” Raven asked as the team huddled around Summer as she opened the map. After marking both their starting location and their destination with a pen (which Qrow had provided, unlike an answer as to why he had it in the first place) they started working out a rough plan through the forest that would probably have to be improvised once they’re in. You can’t really control where you land, as they learned last year.

“Hopefully we’ll land close enough together that we can move as a group,” Taiyang pointed out drawing a line on the map.

“If we’re lucky,” Qrow said sarcastically.

“Right, so if it looks like we aren’t, let’s at least try to maneuver to pair up,” Summer said looking up. “That’s should be easy for all of us, right?” Everyone nodded and Raven held up a hand. “You’re going to ask about _that_ , aren’t you?”

“Yep, and I assume the answer is no?” Raven asked.

“Absolutely no, and that’s the same for you Qrow.” The twins both gave a thumbs up while Summer checked her watch. “Ten till. Unless anyone’s got anything else to bring up we should probably double check our equipment.” Taiyang couldn’t help but smirk and crack his knuckles in response, which Summer rolled her eyes at. “Well, most of us anyway.”

* * *

“Five minutes until 11! When I call your team name, come up to the launchers,” Ozpin called out. “First, Team KHKI.”

“Almost show time,” Raven said rotating a shoulder and looked over at Summer who was checking the ammo in Soleil. “Are you nervous Sum?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” she replied replacing he magazine and turning it back into a dagger before sheathing it. “But I’ll be fine once we’re out there. I hope…”

“You hope?”

“I don’t know, maybe I’m just being overly superstitious. It just… feels like something’s different tonight, you know? Like… something’s about to change.”

“You’ve just cold from the rain,” Qrow said with a wave of his hand.

“Says you!” Summer glared at Qrow before sighing and brushing some hair out of her eyes. “But I hope you’re right anyway.”

“Team CFVY!” Ozpin called out. Coco waved her team forward, they stood on the launch pads, and lowered into ready positions.

“Good hunting guys!” Taiyang called out to CFVY, with Coco and Velvet giving them a thumbs up before being launched into the forest.

“You know we’re technically working against them because of that bet, right?” Raven asked.

“Pfft, I don’t care.”

“…I can’t argue with that, I guess.”

“Team STRQ!” They perked at the sound of their name and moved to the launch pads. As soon as Summer was on her pad she rubbed her arm under her cloak and drew her sword a little to check its sharpness.

“Hey, relax Sum,” Taiyang said tapping her shoulder before he stood on his own pad, “we got this. It can’t be harder than what happened last year, right?”

“You’re right,” Summer nodded and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. “It’s basically a delivery mission. How hard could it be?” Summer braced herself, along with the rest of her team, as the pads clicked and shot them into the dark forest in front of them.


	4. Danger in the Forest

The air above the Emerald Forest was mostly still save for the rain and a lone baby Nevermore that was flying above the trees. It heard a small whistling over the thunder just before it was smashed into feathers and black mist by a speeding girl, with only her yell of “Fuck you bird!” signifying that it even registered as a being to her. Raven put that small bump out of her head and focused on where she most definitely was going to land, her hand moving to rest on her sheath and put her finger on the trigger as she started counting down mentally.

When she hit zero Raven pulled the trigger and caught the sword as it shot out of the sheath, using the momentum to cut a large branch off a tree and landing feet first on it to ride it down to the ground. She kept a grip on the branch as it hit a couple other branches before landing on the ground, where it ground a small trench into earth before coming to a stop and letting Raven hop off it and sheath her katana.

Raven stretched out an arm and looked around the forest for any of her teammates. “Alright, one of you has to be close to me. So which one…?” Raven looked up just in time to see a streak of white rose petals zoom over her above the tree top. “Naturally it’s you,” she whispered waving a way a stray petal that floated down to her. Even so she still took off in a run in the direction that Summer had been flying, “Still, could be worse.”

* * *

Taiyang was having a grand time tree hopping over the forest, shouting with every branch he kicked off of and may or may not have accidentally destroyed. Just a small side effect of his semblance, though he didn’t particularly care since, in his words, it ‘was sweet to look at’. When Taiyang had decided that he had gone far enough he turned around in midair and, with his arms glowing yellow with Aura, he grabbed a branch that slowed him down before it broke under his grip.

Hanging in the air for a split second Taiyang flipped forward and landed in a crouch at the forest floor, holding the position for a few seconds to absorb the shock before hopping up and pumping his fists in front of him. “Yes, killing it again!” he said to himself and threw a few quick punches, “Too bad nobody saw that.”

“Oh I saw it.” Taiyang jumped and turned to see Qrow walking up to him as if he hadn’t been flying though the air a minute ago. “Hey Tai.”

“Where did you come from?! Say something next time Qrow!” Qrow shrugged and Taiyang sighed and started walking though the woods. “Why couldn’t I have landed next to Summer or Raven?”

“Bad luck, and it’s better if you didn’t land near them anyway. You’d have spent the alone time flirting with them non-stop Mr. ‘three for three.’” The pair were quiet for a minute before Qrow realized what he had said and shuddered. “Why the hell did I say that? That didn’t happen, ok?”

“Agreed,” Taiyang said quickly when a noise from their right, loud and clear over the rainfall, brought them to a halt. The looked to where the noise came from and saw several red eyes peering at them from the darkness. “Already?” Taiyang asked and looked behind him at a couple more glowing eyes behind some trees.

“Seems that way,” Qrow answered drawing Harbinger and holding the sword across his shoulders while Taiyang widened his stance and balled his hands into fists. “You ready?”

“Always.”

* * *

Summer was more than happy to let momentum carry her through the air, ready to simply repeat her ‘landing strategy’ from a year ago now. When she started approaching the trees she Blinked around several trees as she aimed for a nearby clearing. Fast approaching the ground she Blinked forward so most of her momentum was horizontal and got her feet under her for a landing.

Even with Aura it still hurt when she touched the ground and immediately tumbled forward. She rolled onto her shoulder twice before she was able to get her hands under her and catch herself. She kneeled on the forest floor for a moment to catch her breath, ignoring the rain beating down on her cloak, and stood up to brush off her hands.

_‘Good job Summer, you didn’t hit a tree again. Already a good sign over last year.’_ Shaking her head at the thought Summer checked the compass on her watch to orient herself in the right direction before drawing York and set off into the forest. Her thought briefly went to her teammates before she squashed them and focused on the trees in front of her.

_‘They can handle themselves,’_ she thought seeing a Beowolf that had stumbled into her path, though it only had enough time to look at her as she jumped over it and spun her body so she beheaded it in a quick motion before landing and continuing her run. After another minute and a few more small time kills Summer slowed her pace to a walk to give her teammates a chance to catch up while she looked around the darkness.

“We really should have packed flashlights,” she sighed and made a mental note to add that to their ever growing list of necessities. A tree shook nearby and Summer looked at it slowly drawing Soleil and aiming it at the brush once it had transformed. “Come out with your hands up or I shoot,” she called out and, after counting to three, pulled the trigger.

The Ursa that came barreling out certainly didn’t appreciate that. Its red eyes bored into Summer as it charged and swung one of its massive arms at her, which she ducked under and jumped away to create some space. She pressed a switch on her sword’s handle which caused the blade to glow red and give off small bits of flame as she ran at the Ursa.

It reared onto its legs and made to swing at Summer again when she Blinked toward it and stabbed York into its neck. The Ursa roared in pain at the fire inside of it and tried to knock Summer off when she jammed her pistol into its mouth and fired three times. It fell back dead with Summer on its chest, who sighed as it started fading away, just in time to notice a second Ursa coming her way.

“Oh you co-“ she started to say as she tried to pull her sword out of the dead Ursa, though not fast enough as the Ursa was on her and managed a hit on her, knocking her away and onto her back with her body flashing white with Aura. Once she was settled Summer aimed at the Ursa as it charged at her, then she saw a flash of red and the Ursa stopped with a wet gurgle before collapsing onto the ground.

“I have to say, I’m getting real sick of saving you from Ursa Summer.” Summer watched as Raven pulled her sword out of the Ursa’s head and jumped down in front of her. She swung her blade clean and sheathed it before offering a hand to Summer. “The least you could do is get cornered by something else for once.”

“I’ll try,” Summer said taking the hand and letting Raven pull her to her feet. She walked over to where York was lying and picked it up, hitting the switch to turn the fire off. “I didn’t see the second Ursa, so thanks for that.” She didn’t need to look back to know Raven was rolling her eyes, so instead she double checked her compass and asked, “So have you seen either of the boys?”

“Nope, didn’t bother looking when I saw you overhead. They’ll be fine though, Tai’s tough as nails and Qrow’s good at turning misfortune to his advantage, ironically enough.”

“You’re right. Hopefully the next time we see them they’ll be either alone or with nothing bigger than a Beowolf. Knock on wood, of course.” She heard a light knocking as Raven obliged her and started leading the way though the woods with Raven next to her. With the rain that got through the trees beating down on them both Summer sighed and said, “This is going to be another long night. I wish I had more coffee.”

“I think Tai has some, though don’t quote me on that.”

“All the more reason to meet up with him soon.”

* * *

“Qrow, coming your way!” Taiyang shouted as he tossed a Beowolf at Qrow. The sword wielder effortlessly spun around and cut it in half with his sword before he flipped the blade down and fired a shot at a Beowolf to his right. Qrow couldn’t help but smirk in satisfaction at how its head blew apart and looked around for any others, though the only Grimm was one that Taiyang was currently fighting. Qrow watched as Taiyang punched the Beowolf in the stomach and, when it bent over, he grabbed its jaws and pulled it apart until he heard a snap and threw a punch into its mouth, the fist coming out the back glowing yellow.

“Why do you have to show off all the time?” Qrow asked as Taiyang pulled his arm out of the Beowolf’s mouth, shaking his hand as it steamed in the rain. “You could have just snapped its neck.”

“You gotta have fun somehow Qrow,” Taiyang answered and pulled out his compass (Summer made sure they _all_ had one, after what happened in Mistral last year). “So north is that way,” he said pointing to his left, “so that’s where we should go. You think the girls are together?”

“By now, definitely. We should get moving if we want to catch up with them.” Qrow put his weapon back on his lower back and started walking with Taiyang following behind him. “Let’s hope this is as hard as it gets.”

“I could stand to fight a King Taijitu. It would help with our score at least.”

“Please don’t say that, I don’t want to literally trip over a giant monster _again_ , and you know it will happen if you do.”

“…Yeah, good point.” Taiyang couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought, which got him a look from Qrow. “It’s nothing,” Taiyang said waving a hand, “it’s just hard to believe so much has happened in only a year, you know?”

“I suppose. It wasn’t fun at the time though.”

“Oh god no.”

* * *

“If only we checked when the rain would stop,” Raven said adjusting her hood again as she looked up at the sky.

“Weather is a fickle and unpredictable mistress Raven,” Summer said turning over the Rook in her hands before putting it away. “And even if we did know it probably wouldn’t matter much. We’ll be done before the rain is with any luck.” Summer rapped her fist against a tree, much to Raven’s amusement, and the pair continued walking with only the rainfall and the distant crack of gunfire to break the silence. So when Raven let out a small chuckle, Summer couldn’t help but ask, “What’s so funny?”

“You.” Summer turned to Raven and stared at her for a moment. “It’s just hilarious how much you changed in just a year, when you get down to it.”

“I could say the same thing about you. It’s weird for you to get nostalgic Raven,” Summer said shaking her head, “And you’re exaggerating, I wasn’t that bad.”

“No, you really were. A year ago you wouldn’t have cared if any of us died, and now you worry when you don’t see any of us for five minutes. A lone wolf to a pack mother; that’s a change, no matter how you look at it.”

“That’s just because I learned,” Summer answered her face falling into a look of annoyance, “especially after Qrow’s incident with the Rapier Wasp hive. Stuff like that can only happen so many times before it becomes natural to worry for the safety of all you idiots.”

“Fair enough. They never did find out how that got into the locker room did they?”

“Nope.” That was certainly a mystery for the ages that Summer was more than happy to let die.

“Do you hear that?” Raven stopped and asked suddenly. Summer stopped with her and, after listening for a minute, shook her head.

“No, I just hear the rain. Are you sure you-“ that was when Summer was proven wrong when a Beowolf dashed through the trees in front of her and Raven with a screaming Maribelle on its back with her crook around its neck. The odd sight was gone just as quickly as it appeared, leaving the pair in an uncomfortable silence that was getting all too common nowadays. “Well… at least someone’s having fun.”

“I guess,” Raven agreed with a sigh, “I bet CFVY doesn’t have to deal with this shit.”

“Probably not.” Summer checked her watch and grimaced at the time. _‘How has it only been half an hour?!’_ she thought as she started walking with Raven taking the lead. After a couple of seconds of silent walking, Summer brushed some hair out of her eyes and said, “Hey Raven, do you mind if I say something?”

“Is something wrong?”

“No, it’s just… about the whole ‘change’ thing. Well… I know it’s odd to bring this up right now, but that promise I made to you, I do intend to keep it. I just wanted to say that while we have a dull moment.”

“You’re right, that is odd to bring up right now.” Despite that, Raven couldn’t help the small smile as she added, “But thanks, I’ll look forward to it.” Summer returned the smile and, after a moment of silence, suddenly looked forward with narrowed eyes. “What’s up?” Raven asked just as Summer vanished in a burst of petals, leaving Raven to shake her head in exasperation and chase after the trail.

* * *

Things were going considerably better for Team CFVY, or at least they were making good progress, even with the Grimm attacking them. Not that they were having trouble with that or anything between Fox and Yatsuhashi’s skills with their blades, Coco’s handbag, and Velvet’s everything. The latest pack of Beowolves was dispatched just as easily as the last one as Coco landed a solid hit on its head with her handbag. She sighed and stepped over its disappearing corpse toward Fox as the other two members went to scout ahead.

“Do you hear anything else Fox?” Coco asked. Her red headed teammate listened for a minute before shaking his head and standing straight. Coco hung her handbag back over her shoulder and shook some rain off her arms as she walked in the direction that her team had walked in.

“I did hear some screams earlier, but it sounded like MRGD,” Fox said carefully moving past the trees. “They should be fine despite that, right?”

“Tardiness aside, they do rank pretty high when it comes to speed. They’ll all be fine as long as they don’t get bogged down.” Coco heard a noise in front of her and reached for her handbag, but stopped when she saw it was just Velvet coming back. “Did you find something Velvet?” Coco asked once Velvet was close enough.

“We found the ruins we’re looking for just up ahead,” Velvet answered jerking a thumb behind her. “Yatsuhashi is keeping it clear of Grimm in case they come along. We’re not the first ones there either.” Coco nodded and motioned for Velvet to lead the way, which the rabbit Faunus did with gusto.

“How’s Yatsuhashi doing by the way?” Coco asked as they walked. “That King Taijitu did come out of nowhere after all.”

“He’s alright, his Aura took most of the hit after all. We _probably_ should have cut off both of its heads before it got away. If it finds someone else right now it’s going to be bad.”

“It got away too fast, at least for me. I thought Fox had it anyway.”

“I was busy with the Ursa,” Fox added, “And don’t you have a minigun Coco? Why didn’t you use that against it?”

“I’m not made of ammo Fox, and I’m not going to waste what I have on something I might miss anyway. Oh well, no point worrying about it now. If we run across it again we’ll take care of it.”

“Here we are,” Velvet said suddenly as they approached a small cliff overlooking a set of ruins. She hopped off and slid down the cliff followed by Coco and Fox, rushing over to Yatsuhashi who was standing guard at the ruins. “I’m back! Did you have any trouble?” Velvet asked Yatsuhashi, who simple shook his head no and moved to follow Coco into the ruins.

The team looked around the ruins out of curiosity, mostly looking at the other ‘relics’ that were sitting on various pedestals, either singular or in pairs. Coco walked down the line of gold relics, taking a quick note that the Rook was still missing from the lineup, before she found the Bishop and took her own relic out of her handbag and put it out on the pedestal.

“Well, mission complete,” Coco said out loud to her team. “Now we need to- Fox, behind you!”

“What?” Fox turned around and raised his arms just as a Beowolf leaped out of the forest and rushed for him. Fox blocked its claws with his weapons and kicked it in the chest to knock it backwards into the air. Then a burst of rose petals shot toward the Beowolf and a sword was stabbed through its throat. The Grimm groaned for a minute before it was yanked out of the side of its throat, leaving its lifeless body nearly beheaded as it fell to the ground while its killer landed a few feet in front of Fox, her white cloak billowing out behind her before she stood up and sheathed her sword.

“Thanks Summer,” Fox said as the girl walked over to him.

“Pay more attention Fox!” Summer said coldly and jabbed a finger into Fox’s chest, “Even a Beowolf could end your life if you’re not careful.” She shook her head and walked past him and the rest of CFVY into the ruins, only glancing back when Raven jumped off the cliff and ran up to them.

“Oh that’s why you ran off,” Raven said looking at the almost gone Beowolf, “A little warning about that would have been nice Summer.”

“By the way, that counts for us,” Coco said motioning at the Beowolf.

“Whatever, there’s more where that came from. So, have any of you seen our lesser halves around?” CFVY shook their heads along with Summer who had just gotten back from placing her relic. “That’s just great. Now we’re going to have to go find them, which will probably take a while on top of the hour we’ve been in here. That’ll be fu-“

Raven was interrupted when the white head of a King Taijitu landed in the clearing, causing everyone to jump away from it with Raven shouting a loud curse. When the head started moving on its own everyone reached for their weapons, stopping when they saw the cause of the movement was someone opening the mouth from the inside. CFVY was surprised when a disgusted looking Taiyang managed to wrench the mouth open enough for him to step out and slam it shut, though neither of his teammates had much of a reaction to that.

“That’ll teach you bitch,” Taiyang said dusting his hands off before he noticed he wasn’t alone. Then he asked, “Hey, what’s up?” while walking up to Raven.

“Not much, aside from your entrance,” Raven said and jerked at thumb at the ruins, “We’re done with the thing by the way.”

“Ah cool, was it hard?”

“Not really, aside from visibility,” Summer said walking up to her teammates and waved as she said, “Hey Qrow!” said teammate simply returned the wave as he walked up to them with his thumbs in his pockets.

“So…” Velvet said looking at the disappearing Taijitu head.

“Oh that?” Taiyang said following her gaze, “Qrow and I were just minding our own business, as we do, when we… may have tripped over a King Taijitu.”

“Literally?” Summer asked, which caused Taiyang to sheepishly nod, “This is the second time. You guys have bad luck with giant Grimm.”

“No kidding,” Qrow said shaking his head, “it wouldn’t have been such a problem if some jackass hadn’t cut off one of its heads and just left it like that. It was pretty pissed off, but we took care of it.”

“Heh heh, I can’t imagine who did that,” Velvet said, her tone forcefully casual.

“Was it you?”

“…We were going to go back for it.”

“Well, my team killed it so we get the points for it,” Summer said with a smirk.

“Bullshit, we did half the work!” Fox retorted, ignoring Yatsuhashi’s complaint of ‘language.’

“Let’s just count it as a kill for both of us ok? That night’s going to be long enough as it is,” Coco said checking her watch. “It’s only midnight? Oh yeah, plenty of time to kick your ass Summer.”

“We’ll see about that. My team’s more than ready to meet that challenge, right?” Summer said looking back at her team, Taiyang and Qrow nodding while Raven rolled her eyes.

“Can you stop flirting already? I want to get this over with,” Raven said walking away into the forest. Taiyang and Qrow stifled a laugh at their leader’s mortified face at the comment and followed the black haired girl.

“F-flirting?! Wait, come back! We still need to talk strategy!” Summer shouted and ran after her team, leaving an amused Team CFVY behind her.

“They are right, we should get going as well,” Velvet said walking up to Coco, doing a double take when she saw the leader’s face. “A-are you blushing Coco?”

“What, no I’m not, shut up! Let’s go kill monsters!” Coco replied in one breath before walking away from Velvet, unfolding her handbag into a minigun in the process. The Faunus blinked in confusion before moving to follow Coco, with Fox and Yatsuhashi walking behind her.

“I want to go to bed,” Fox said with a sigh. Yatsuhashi only nodded in reply. So started Team STRQ and Team CFVY’s long night of trying to one up each other, and with only one minor incident of friendly fire to speak of.

* * *

_Coco had gotten separated from her team thanks to an errant Ursa, though the bear Grimm soon learned the error of that when it found itself on the wrong end of Coco’s gun. The same could be said for its brethren, who also ate a hail of lead without Coco even needing to stop her gun’s spin. Admittedly she did have a little bit of fun and didn’t let go of the trigger until all the Ursa and a line of trees behind them were all down._

_When she finally did and folded her gun back into her handbag she felt proud enough to smile, until she heard a rough voice shout “Coco!” Said girl looked around until she saw Qrow standing up from behind one of the trees she had downed in her little rampage. “What the fuck?!” he angrily shouted at her. Coco felt her stomach sink and felt a chill run though her body that was unrelated to the rain._

_“Uh… I’m sorry Qrow!” she finally shouted back at him. Qrow just angrily waved her off and walked away from her into the woods practically radiating anger. “Really, I didn’t mean-“ she was cut off when Qrow drew Harbinger, unfolded it into a scythe, and cut down a tree he passed by with a gunshot ringing through the air._

_Coco stood there until Qrow was well out of sight and let out a breath she had been holding. “Trigger discipline. Gotta remember that.”_

* * *

So aside from that, the exam was going well as far as Ozpin could tell through the security cameras. “So I take it you won’t need me anymore Professor Ozpin?” Port asked looking at the camera feed on his own scroll.

“Not for tonight Peter,” Ozpin answered changing the feed to show Maribelle on top of a rolling Boarbatusk. “Aside from some expected bumps, it seems the second years are doing quite well. And some are already on their way back. I can handle the rest of the exam from here.”

“In that case, I’ll go get some rest for tomorrow,” Port said putting his scroll away and stroking his mustache. “If you need anything else, I’m just a call away like always.”

“Thank you.” Ozpin glanced at Port as he nodded and walked back to Beacon Academy. After that he returned his attention to his scroll, not once noticing a small fly watching him from the grass.

The hours seemed to pass in the blink of an eye and soon Summer’s watch was beeping to indicate the alarm she had set had come. She finished off the Creep she had been fighting with a bullet to the head and checked her watch. “Four o’clock already? Time flies when you’re having fun I guess,” she said stepping onto the Creep with a little more force than necessary and took out her scroll. With a few taps she started a group call with the rest of her team and waited for them to pick up.

_“Hey Summer,”_ Raven said once she had picked up.

“Did you see the time Rae?”

_“Yeah, just as you called actually. Guess we should start heading back yeah?”_ Two more beeps were heard, meaning that the two boys of the team had just picked up.

_“Sorry about that, Qrow and I got caught up in some naysayers,”_ Taiyang said with Qrow grunting in agreement. _“So are we done here?”_

“Yeah, and I was thinking of doing our usual exit routine,” Summer said glancing up to the sky. The rain had died down somewhat during the night, but not enough for Summer to stop worrying about it. “Does that sound good Rae?”

_“Yeah, perfect,”_ Raven said with a sigh, _“Someone’s going to have to be an anchor though. Any volunteers?”_

_“I’m feeling kind of burned out,”_ Taiyang answered, rubbing his neck from where he was standing, _“So I’ll head back. Will you guys be alright in the meantime?”_

_“I think we can keep racking up kills while you head back,”_ Qrow said. _“No matter what, I think we should all be out of here in half an hour.”_

“I agree with that. Let’s keep it up until the very end, so no rush ok Tai?”

_“No problem. I’m off,”_ Taiyang said before hanging up. Summer hung up as well, taking a breath as she put away her scroll and checked the ammo in Soleil.

“Half an hour huh?” She asked herself setting another alarm on her watch, “Plenty of time to have some more fun.” She blinked at her own words and pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh. “Fun, I say. I really have to get out of that mindset.” She heard a growl behind her and turned around to see a pack of Beowolves advancing slowly. Despite her earlier words, Summer couldn’t help the smile grow on her face as she drew her sword.

* * *

A few minutes later at the top of the Beacon cliffs, Team CFVY was making their way back up to the top with Velvet being the last one up, doing a little flip once she was at the top with a little “Ta-da,” to finish it off.

“We’re all very impressed Velvet,” Fox said in response, ignoring that Coco was clapping at the sight. Velvet couldn’t help a giggle at the sight, managing to get it under control as Professor Ozpin waked up to them.

“Professor Ozpin, Team CFVY reporting in,” Coco said standing at attention.

“And well done, like always,” Ozpin said with a nod. He tapped on his scroll a couple of times and added, “And with you four here that only leaves Team STRQ. Not for much longer though.”

“And the results?” Coco asked carefully.

“You’ll get them tomorrow. I don’t think any of you have anything to worry about in any case. Go get some rest, you all earned it.” Coco nodded and led her team away with a wave, Velvet taking a moment to look back at the forest before following. Ozpin turned back to his scroll just in time to see Taiyang approaching the cliffs at a run and moving to meet him.

Ozpin got to Taiyang just as he reached the top of the cliff. Ozpin quirked an eyebrow wondering how he had done that, but a quick look over the edge and the series of fist sized holes leading up answered that question. “So you’re the anchor for Raven today, Mr. Xiao Long?”

“Yep,” Taiyang answered massaging one of his fists. “The other’s should be here soon though.”

“I’m sure they will. It’s simply a matter of time.” Ozpin moved closer to the edge of the cliff, staring at his scroll as it showed a video of the Branwens engaging with some Ursa, Taiyang silently coming up to his side with his arms behind his head.

“Hey Professor, can I ask something?” Taiyang asked, with Ozpin answering with an affirmative hum. “Were you… you know, bluffing about the whole ‘holding us back a year’ thing?”

“What do you think?” Taiyang and Ozpin’s eyes met, the latter with the smallest of smiles on his face, and Taiyang sighed and shook his head.

“I think you’re too good at the whole ‘bluffing’ thing.”

“It’s an unfortunately essential part of my job, as much as I hate to admit.” After a moment of staring between the two, Taiyang sighed and crossed his arms.

“Oh well, no harm no foul I guess. It certainly got everyone going in any rate.” Taiyang heard the smallest of buzzing and, after a moment of listening, zeroed in on the sound and slammed a hand on his arm. He pulled it away, not seeing any bug but was glad that the buzzing was gone. “Damn mosquitoes,” he whispered not noticing the glance from Ozpin or knowing about the headache he just gave someone in the forest.

* * *

Like almost every other time she was in the thick of it, Raven was having a blast or at least as much as she could have fighting for her life against Ursa. Then again, big slow Grimm work best for her speedy style of attack, which the pair she was facing off found out when she dodged a downward swipe from one and ran up its arm and lopped its head off with one swing and jumped off toward the other one.

She couldn’t help the smile when she saw the Ursa looking at her as she fell toward it and stabbed it in the chest. She then used the momentum of the fall to spin around her sword, plant her feet on the Ursa’s head, and kicked off to drag the sword down the Ursa splitting it open. She kicked off it again, pulling her sword out in the process, and landed in a roll as the Grimm fell dead behind her.

Raven stood up, swiping her blade clean out of reflex, and looked to find Qrow finishing off his own battle with a single gunshot punctuating the air as he sliced the Ursa in half horizontally, the arms falling to the ground before it folded over into black mist.

“Very impressive Qrow,” Raven said with an eye roll as she walked to Qrow as he folded his scythe back into a sword. “So, are we good to go?”

“Yeah, I think we’re pushing our luck here,” Qrow nodded and put Harbinger away and turned to his sister. “Care to do the honors?”

“Naturally,” Raven replied and slashed her sword through the air, creating a portal next to her. Qrow walked through first while Raven sheathed her sword before following a second later. The emerged on top of the Beacon Cliffs with Taiyang and Ozpin looking over at them. Raven glanced around as the portal closed behind her and asked, “Summer’s not here?”

“Nope, I haven’t heard from her since our call,” Taiyang said rubbing the back of his head.

“And she seems to be out of range of the cameras,” Ozpin said closing his scroll and putting it away.

“Seriously? Where the hell could she be then?” Qrow asked looking out at the forest.

“She must have lost track of time again,” Raven said pulling out and opening her scroll, “I’m calling her now.” She rang up Summer’s scroll and held her own up while the it rang. In the forest Summer was mopping up the remaining Beowolves when her scroll started ringing. So naturally, she couldn’t help but sing along with her ringtone as she finished up.

_“We pretend in the darkness~,”_ she sang out loud as she Blinked toward a Beowolf and stabbed it in the throat with Soleil and yanked it across its neck to split it open before jumping to the next one. _“We pretend the night won’t steal our youth~.”_ The next one got a kick to the face, knocking it down so Summer could stab it in the chest with York as the last one leapt at her from behind _. “Singing me the sweet songs of seduction~.”_ Summer jumped into the air with a spin and planted a foot on the Beowolf’s chest, launching it over her toward a tree while she landed and pulled York out of the vanishing Grimm she was on in a reverse hold and Blinked over to the tree.

_“Let me be the fool, fool, fool,~”_ she sang slashing in time with the last three words to take off the Beowolf’s arms and head. The head barely settled when Summer slammed the blade of her sword through its eye and finished, _“who will live and die for you.~”_ Summer glanced around the clearing she was in, humming along to her ringtone the whole time, before sheathing Soleil and finally pulling out her scroll and answering the call. “Hello Raven, what’s up?”

_“What’s up is we’re all waiting for you to finish up!”_ her partner said angrily on the other side, _“It’s almost 4:30 you know and you’re literally the only one left in that forest!”_ Summer checked her watch, seeing Raven was right, and pulled York out of the ground to sheathe it.

“So I am. Well I’m done with the last pests I ran into, so I’m ready whenever you are.”

_“Well ‘whenever’ is now. Portal’s coming your way.”_ Summer rolled her eyes and looked around the clearing again, stopping when saw _something_ floating past some trees.

“Wait stop!” Summer said into the scroll and Blinked behind a tree to hide from it.

_“Oh my god, what is it this time?! Another Beowolf you have to stab 48 times? An Ursa you need to incinerate slowly?”_ Summer ignored her partner as she peeked around the tree, squinting a little in the darkness to make out the shape of what had to be a Creature of Grimm.

“I don’t know what it is. I’ve never seen something like this before.”

* * *

“What do you mean you’ve never seen it before?” Raven asked in annoyance while Taiyang and Qrow crowded around her to listen in on the conversation.

_“I mean, I’ve never seen this before. It’s definitely a Grimm, but I don’t know what kind.”_ Summer replied.

“Is something wrong?” Ozpin asked shifting his umbrella.

“Hold on,” Raven said covering the receiver with a hand, “Summer says she’s looking at some new Grimm type now. Want me to just bring her in?” Ozpin tapped a finger against his hand, trying to ignore the chill running down his spine, before he shook his head.

“No. Put her on speaker please.” Raven quirked an eyebrow but did what she was asked anyway.

“You’re on speaker Sum, and Ozpin’s here too,” Raven said holding the scroll in front of her for everyone to hear.

_“Like I was saying, I’ve never seen this before. I mean… what the hell is it?”_ Summer said along with some rustling noises.

“Calm down,” Ozpin said, his voice utterly serious. “Can you tell what it looks like? I can narrow it down from there.”

_“Um, ok. It’s still really dark, but I think it’s about 5 feet long. It’s floating on its own, there’s a lot of tendrils hanging under it. It… looks like a jellyfish.”_

Ozpin’s eyes widened and that chill turned to ice through his whole body as he turned away from his students. “What? What is one of _those_ doing here? That can’t be good, not at all.”

“You can’t see this Summer,” Raven said, bringing Ozpin back to the present, “but Oz looks like he’s about to have a heart attack.”

_“Professor, what am I dealing with here?”_ Summer said, now showing worry, _“It looks like it’s going somewhere.”_ Ozpin thought for a moment before sighing and turning around.

“That is most likely a Seer,” he answered tightening his grip on his umbrella, “It’s… a specialized Grimm used primarily for long distance communication.”

“Communication?” Qrow asked quirking an eyebrow, “For who?” Ozpin only had to look him in the eye, his face the very picture of dread, for the team to understand. “Oh shit…”

_“That thing is used by_ Salem?!” Summer asked, a little louder than was probably necessary. _“This is bad. What should I do?”_

“She needs to get out of there,” Taiyang said pointing to the forest, “If something like that is out there, then one of _her_ agents might be there too! That’s way too dangerous!”

“Opening a portal now might put her in danger, depending on how fast it is,” Raven said shaking her head. “Listen Sum, if you can sneak away-“

_“I’m going after it.”_ Summer said suddenly.

“W-what?!”

_“If one of her agents is here, then it’s our duty to find out why they’re here. I won’t do anything dangerous, just watch from a distance and then call you when I’m done for a pickup.”_

“No, that is an awful idea! We are out of time anyway, so get somewhere open and-“

_“It’s just eavesdropping! I can do this.”_

“Summer-“

“If she goes over the time limit, I’ll wave it,” Ozpin said suddenly stopping the conversation and getting a glare from Raven. “But listen Summer, Seers are very dangerous despite their appearance. _Do not_ get seen either by it or whoever’s calling it.”

_“And if I am seen run like hell, I understand. I’ll call when I’m clear one way or the other.”_ The call ended and Raven shut the scroll with her hands shaking from how hard she gripped it.

“To hell with that, I’m going after her,” Qrow said running to the cliff edge and jumping off. Ozpin moved to the edge to watch Qrow as he moved into the forest, his fingers once again tapping aggressively against his umbrella.

“What’s your problem?!” Raven said stomping over to Ozpin and pointing to the forest, “If it’s so dangerous in there, why keep her in there?! Are you trying to get her killed?”

“Of course not Raven,” Ozpin responded coldly and glanced at the brunette. “I do care about the safety of all of my students. That you still seem to think the opposite is insulting, not just to me but to Summer as well. She is both skilled and smart enough to know when a fight can’t be won, and she’ll have Qrow there to help her soon enough.” Ozpin looked back the forest and added, “Unfortunately, this is something we need to know about. Seers are never alone and are usually accompanied by one of two things.”

“Yeah, I know. Either one of her ‘agents’ are around or-“

“Something _far_ worse,” Ozpin finished darkly. “If it’s the former, it just means we have some holes in our security to patch.”

“And… if it’s worse?” Taiyang asked worriedly.

“Pray that it isn’t.” Both Raven and Taiyang blinked and tried to ignore the chill down their spine as they looked at the dark forest that their teammates were now in.

* * *

Ruby was just about done with her spying and had ordered the Grimm Flies to die somewhere out of the way, aside from the one watching Ozpin that had gotten squished. With that done and the Seer on its way Ruby took a deep breath and ran her right hand through her wet hair, enjoying the feeling of both the drops from her hair and the sky hitting her skin.

After a minute of waiting she pushed off the tree she had been leaning against and walked out of the thicket of trees. She glanced to her right to see the Seer floating toward her and changed direction to meet it in the middle. She nodded at the Seer and clenched her hands behind her back while it surrounded her with its tendrils and the colors of its core swirled in a mess of red and black until a clear image showed in it.

“Queen,” Ruby said moving her right hand over her chest and bowing slightly, “I’ve finished my inspection at Beacon Academy.”

“At ease General,” her Queen, Salem, said to which she complied. “So what have you found at Beacon?”

“It’s mostly the same as last year Queen,” Ruby replied shaking her head, “There _might_ be a few stand outs among the new crop, but ultimately nothing to worry about going forward.”

“We’ve said the same about Atlas and Haven.” Ruby blinked at the sudden voice before closing her eyes.

“I wasn’t aware that you were here as well,” Ruby said opening her eyes as the image shifted over to Weiss, who seemed to be sitting down with her hands folded under her chin.

“So is Blake. As for Yang… who knows where she is.” Weiss shook her head, annoyance on her face, before she asked, “So would you like to know what we found?”

“Of course. Why don’t we start with Atlas.”

“Well, as I’ve told Queen just now, the new initiates in Atlas Academy is more of the same; patriotic ingrates who want to join the military ‘for the glory of Atlas’. As for the tips Little Weiss had… I really would like to know where Ironwood finds those freaks.”

“Do we need to worry about those ones?”

“No.” Weiss lowered her folded hands to her lap and smiles softly, “If they were something to worry about, I’d make sure they’d never leave the Academy.” The image then shifted away from Weiss in a swirl of red until it showed Blake, shaking her head and adjusting her mask with a tentacle.

“Haven remains well within control,” Blake said running the tip of her tentacle down her face, “The Lion knew his place the moment he saw me and gave me what I wanted with no hesitation. There’s nothing new to report in any case.”

“I still don’t trust him, no matter what he says,” Ruby said with a scowl and squeezed her hands behind her back. “We still need to keep an eye on Haven.”

“Agreed. I’m heading back to the castle now.” The image of Blake faded in time for the smiling face of Yang to appear in the red.

“Hey Rubes! You’re looking kind of drenched there aren’t ya?” Yang said leaning closer to her seer as Ruby rolled her eyes. “I bet you wish you were here _in the Shade_ with me, eh?” Yang couldn’t help the small chuckle at her own little joke, ignoring Ruby’s head shake.

“What have I said about puns, General Yang,” Salem said suddenly, causing Yang stop her laugh and flinch away from the Seer.

“Q-Queen?! I… didn’t know you were there.” Yang managed to collect herself and stood up straight, clearing her throat as she said, “I apologize for that.”

“Just give your report on Vacuo.”

“I hate this country. Everyone here is the same no matter when we come; A bunch of freeloading idiots drinking wine and rebelling against ‘the man’ and none of them know how to wear a fucking shirt!” Yang got more worked up as she ranted, small licks of flame coming off of her body as she went on, before she stopped and cleared her throat to calm herself down. “I think it says a lot about this place that that one idol team from last year still seems to be the one we need to watch out for. What was their name again? Lavender or something?”

“NDGO,” Ruby corrected.

“Yeah, that’s the one. Everyone else is too busy getting high on hash or whatever to do anything.”

“That’s not a plant that they use in Vacuo, but I see your point General Yang,” Salem said as her image appeared in the Seer. “You all did excellently. I believe it’s time to move forward with our operations, especially since the Vytal Festival is being held this year.”

“What do you need us to do?” Ruby asked, “Should I stay here?”

“No, Cinder has the initial steps in Vale well under way. I need all of you back here so we can discuss what to do afterwards. It’s going to be a long year for us.”

“Understood Queen,” Ruby said along with Weiss and Yang, who no doubt also mirrored her action of bowing to Salem as her image disappeared from the Seer. The floating Grimm’s tendrils fell underneath it into a neutral state and Ruby let out a small breath of relief. Even if she didn’t have the capacity to feel emotions, speaking with and generally being around her Queen still somehow made her nervous. _‘Maybe that’s just an innate instinct when around her?’_

Ruby shook her head and closed her eyes at the thought. _‘What does it matter in the end? The Griffon I took is still around, so I should-‘_

The snap of a twig suddenly filled the air and Ruby snapped her head to the side, her red eyes glaring into the darkness toward a group of trees. The Seer noticed as well and started floating toward the noise until Ruby forced it to stop with a hand. “No, you leave. That’s mine,” She ordered looking right into its core. The Seer gave a low hum and started floating away into the forests. Seers were far too valuable to waste, especially given the sheer time and effort Queen Salem needed to make them.

With the Seer on its way to safety, Ruby held her right arm out and willed her scythe into form as she walked toward where the noise came from, its blade lightly brushing against the grass as she walked. Unconsciously Ruby lowered into a combat stance as she approached the trees, the small splashes from both her footsteps and the dying rain being the only sounds she could hear. She meticulously checked the trees, walking around the base and looking up into the branches, over and over for the next minute all the while feeling a small flicker of hatred grow in her chest at the situation.

When that was done Ruby moved to an open spot and closed her eyes, her hands moving to grip her scythe properly as she focused her senses for _anything_ to give away what had made the sound; any small sound, the faintest scent, the errant waft of fear and dread, _anything_. She stood stock still, coiled like a spring ready to snap, until she finally heard a faint rustling in a bush to her left and pounced, shooting like a bullet to the brush and swinging her scythe across it.

Leaves from the bush flew into the air from the force of her swing, a nearby tree that had gotten caught in the swing fell to the forest floor with a crash, faint red rose petals wafted though the air from the sheer speed, and from the bush she saw a small rabbit shoot out of the bush, squealing in fear as it ran for its life.

Ruby watched the animal for a moment before standing up straight, spinning her scythe so the blade was facing downward, and ran her left hand down her face with an irritated sigh. “I got worked up for nothing,” she said aloud and turned to go to the clearing. She heard a rustle of feathers and the caw of a crow at that moment, giving the black bird a small glance before continuing her walk to an open space in the trees and raised her hand to call the Griffon to her.

Two caws and Ruby stopped, turning her head slowly back to the bird and watching it carefully. Not that the bird was all that unusual, but something didn’t feel right about it now that she really looked at it. _‘I almost forgot who’s territory I’m in. What’s it looking at?’_ The bird fluffed its feathers and cawed again, its head shifting a little to glance behind the tree it was resting on.

Ruby’s eyes narrowed at the tree and gripped her scythe in both hands as she moved to the tree. At the edge of her vision she saw the crow look at her and took off suddenly, cawing wildly as it did. She felt the faintest hint of fear coming from behind the tree, which gave Ruby more than enough cause to dash to the tree and cut it down.

Instead of the splatter of blood she had expected, a stream of white rose petals filled the air from where her scythe struck. Ruby barely had time to be confused before she saw a flash of white on the trunk as it hung in the air, focusing on it in time to see it was a young girl in a white cloak finding her footing on the bark. She pushed off of the tree toward Ruby and swung a sword at her, the blade catching Ruby on her horns and knocking her down. She managed to get up into a crouch in time to see the girl sheathe her sword and run away into the forest, the cawing of a crow echoing along with it.

“No,” Ruby whispered grabbing her scythe and standing up as she let out a roar of anger and hatred into the air. With that done she took off after the girl, her eyes burning red and her heart yearning for the desire to see her blood spilled.

* * *

_‘Oh crap oh crap oh crap!’_ was the only real thought Summer Rose had had for the last couple of minutes. The Seer had been one thing, but whatever that _thing_ that was chasing her now was on a whole other level. The very brief glimpse she had caught of its eyes when it heard the rabbit was enough to put the fear into her, and that was before it had tore through a tree like tissue paper.

A roar filled the air, anger and hatred and bloodlust all rolled into one, and Summer Blinked up to a tree branch to look behind her. She had barely seen it coming, the red eyes streaking though the darkness, when it was on her and smashing its body into the tree she was in. The tree shook and Summer Blinked away, looking behind her through rose petals to see the tree fall and the Grimm rolling past it. Summer hit the ground running, hearing the sound of it getting to its feet and running after her not even a second later.

_‘Move! Don’t think, move!’_ Summer pushed herself to run faster though the forest, following the cawing of a crow and Blinking to the sides or above whenever the Grimm got a little too close for comfort. Once she Blinked _toward_ it and very narrowly missed getting hit by it, the blade of the scythe coming an inch away from her face. The only good part of the situation seemed to be that it was seemed to be so focused on catching up to her that it wasn’t actually caring how _fast_ it was going. As it turned out, Momentum was a bitch to everything.

The third time that Summer managed to lose the Grimm this way Summer hid behind a tree, both to catch her breath and to look around for an exit. She already had a plan for _how_ to get out, she just needed to know _where_ it was. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, focusing her hearing and catching a faint cawing to her left. Just in time, since the tree she was hiding behind was cut down by the Grimm just as she Blinked that way.

Even with her guide Summer was aware enough that she was running on fumes, while her pursuer seemed like it had near endless durability and endurance. Summer _would_ be caught eventually if she didn’t leave _now_. The caws were much closer now and Summer Blinked one more time.

Which was when she found the trees end suddenly and she landed roughly on the ground before running into the clearing. After a few seconds of blind running she was stopped by the ravine that formed part of the natural defenses of the Beacon Cliffs. She looked down into the endless darkness below her, weighing her options mentally until a crash behind her made her decision for her. She took a deep breath and jumped. She had fallen for a split second before something yanked on her cloak and she was pulled backwards into the cliff wall, the fabric choking her as she was pulled up.

“Got you,” a woman’s voice above her said, echoing with a very unnatural reverb, and Summer felt a familiar pit grow in her stomach.

_‘I’m going to die if I don’t do something!’_ she thought as she gripped her cloak digging into her neck and grit her teeth. She was pulled up one more time and Summer looked up, her eyes meeting the Grimm’s red ones, and she realized there was only one way out of the situation. Another jerk up and Summer reached for Soleil, drew it, and slid it under the hem of her cloak and cut herself free just as the Grimm reached a hand out to her. She was weightless for a split second before she fell into the darkness, with only the slowly brightening sky and the Grimm’s red eyes in view before the mist claimed her.

Ruby couldn’t help but be impressed with the girl; not many people had the guts to resist as well as she had, let alone drop herself to certain death just to avoid being killed by her. “Well, the jokes on her, I got what I wanted. She’s still dead either way.” Ruby lifted the white cloak up to her face and sniffed it, committing the scent to memory before reaching out and letting it go. She watched the white fabric drift down the ravine for a second before she turned around and walked back to the forest, the scythe she had planted into the ground already vanishing into thin air.

“I’ve already wasted too much time. Queen’s still expecting me back.” The first tree Ruby passed she heard a caw, so she looked up to see a crow looking down on her. She almost had half a mind to kill the bird right there, but instead decided to slam a fist into the trunk to scare the bird into the air if only to relieve a bit of frustration. As the crow landed and cawed angrily at her, Ruby couldn’t help but glance back at the ravine as she walked. _‘I’ll make sure when I get back to Queen’s castle,’_ she thought looking back forward and calling out to her Griffon.

Once Ruby was gone from sight, the crow she had scared took off through the tree tops and carefully flew down into the ravine. It circled down carefully, its red eyes piercing the darkness until it found a white cloak hanging on a outreaching rock. It landed on the cloak, looked it over carefully and clawed at it with its feet and let out a series of three caws.

A burst of rose petals appeared next to the crow and a pair of gloved hands grabbed the rock, scaring the crow into the air to watch Summer swing back onto the outcropping. Summer made sure her feet were planted solidly on the rock before she pressed her back against the cliff and took a deep breath, both her breathing and her body shaking from the _very_ close call she had just managed to get away from. She had managed to gulp down a few breaths of air when a rustle of feathers sounded and she looked down at the crow that had landed on her cloak.

“Is it gone for real?” she asked the crow, which looked at her askew before cawing once. Summer heaved a heavy, relieved sigh and carefully held out a hand to the bird which, after a second, flew onto it and let her pull it into a gentle hug. “Good bird. You saved my life again,” she whispered to it as she stroked its back and smiled softly when it nestled its head against her neck, the two holding the position for a few moments before she let the bird out of the hug, where it hopped onto her knee.

Summer carefully pulled her scroll out, tapped Raven’s portrait on the screen, and held it up to her ear as it rang for only a second when Raven picked up. _“Summer?! Are you ok, we heard some of those crashes from up here!”_

“I’m alright Rae,” Summer said, her hands still shaking a little from the adrenaline, “Well, still alive in any case. Can I get the hell out of here now?”

_“Yeah, coming your way.”_ The call ended and Summer shut her scroll and put it away just in time for a portal to open up in front of her over the drop. The crow cawed and took flight into it while Summer grabbed her cloak, wrapped the majority of it around her arm, and jumped in after it. She emerged on the other side on top of the cliffs and almost immediately fell backwards when she saw her team and Ozpin.

“Summer!” Taiyang yelled running up to Summer as she hugged her legs to her and pressed her forehead to her knee. “Are you ok?”

“I…I…” she started to say.

“I’m sorry Summer,” Ozpin interrupted walking up and crouching next to her. “We could hear that carnage from here. If I had known-“

“Stop,” Summer waved a hand, “Going in was my choice. I just… need to catch my breath.”

“But what the hell was that?” Qrow asked rubbing his arms, “That was a Grimm right? I wasn’t imagining that?”

“No, you weren’t, and you didn’t even see what happened before it found me.” Summer pulled her head up and flattened out her legs as she added, “The damn thing was _talking_!”

“Talking?” Ozpin said just as surprised as the others, “How is that possible?”

“I swear I heard it talk to the Seer! It was smart enough to thoroughly search an area I was hiding in, and I think it found me because of Qrow. No offense.”

“None taken,” Qrow said with a wave. “So what was it talking about?”

“I could only catch bits and pieces, but I definitely heard ‘Queen’. I also heard something about Atlas and Haven Academy, which can’t mean anything good coming from it.”

“I still find it weird that Grimm can talk. What kind can do that?” Team STRQ looked at Ozpin, who had been looking more and more unnerved as the conversation went on. After a moment he took a breath and asked what he had been dreading.

“What did it look like? A Beowolf or an Ursa?” Summer blinked at the question and shook her head.

“No, it wasn’t like any Grimm I had seen before. It… looked like a woman.”

“What?!” Raven shouted and looked at her brother, who only shook his head. Raven put a palm to her forehead and shook her head. “A Grimm that looks like a woman? There’s no way…”

“Yeah, a woman in her late 20s or early 30s, I couldn’t really tell with everything that happened. It’s kind of a blur even now.” Summer looked up at Ozpin to see his face utterly pale and his eyes wide.

“I… take it that’s the ‘worse’ you mentioned earlier?” Taiyang asked carefully.

“Go back to your dorm,” Ozpin said seriously and started walking away, “You passed your exam too, so don’t worry about that along with the Grimm.”

“W-what, wait!” Summer said scrambling to her feet and following Ozpin, “but what about the first years?! They’re going into the forest in a few hours! If that thing is still out there, then they’re just going to be launching into a _deathtrap!_ ”

“I’m well aware of that Miss Rose,” Ozpin replied, “and rest assured that we will take the proper precautions. By the time they go in, we-“

“THAT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!” Summer shouted throwing her cloak on the ground. “That Grimm threw itself into a tree hard enough to snap it like a twig and got back up like it was nothing! We need to go in there and kill it before even _thinking_ of sending first years in! If they cross paths with it, it’s just gonna-“

“I’M WELL AWARE OF HOW DANGEROUS IT IS SUMMER ROSE!” Summer, along with her teammates, stopped and backed up at the sudden burst of anger from their normally calm headmaster. Ozpin, after seeing his shocked students, took a deep breath and rubbed the bridge of his nose gently. “You’ve been through a very harrowing experience and I understand why you’re concerned Summer. I share those same concerns entirely, and if it were up to _just_ me I would do just what you said.

“But the fact is that it isn’t; I’m the headmaster of an academy starting a new year, which means the Council is expecting a new year of Huntsman. Not even I could defy them on this, especially when the reason for possibly postponing the initiation isn’t public knowledge for a reason.”

“It isn’t?” Qrow asked looking back at the forest, “But-“ he was interrupted by Ozpin raising a hand.

“We _will_ take precautions. Our staff is going to be in the forest for the initiation anyway, so we’ll comb the forest to make sure it _is_ gone. As for what that is, if you really want to know then I will tell you tomorrow.”

Summer blinked and looked back at her team; Taiyang sharing her own look of concern while Qrow and Raven had these looks of cold fury, the former doing a much better job at hiding it than his sister. Nonetheless they all nodded at her silent question, which she returned and looked back at Ozpin. “Yes, we would like to know what we’re dealing with.”

“After team placements then,” Ozpin said gradually returning to his usual demeanor. “Until then, I would advise you get some rest after tonight. I’m sure you all will appreciate that.” With one last nod Ozpin started walking back to the Academy, leaving Team STRQ to collect their thoughts.

“You know, I agree with everything he said for once,” Raven said quietly and grabbed a few locks of her hair to knead in her hands.

“Are you ok Rae?” Taiyang asked, gently putting a hand on his teammates shoulder. The brunette didn’t move to take it off like she usually did, instead taking a deep breath and shaking her head.

“I will be,” she said and started the walk back, “Come on, I’m tired as hell.”

“I hear that,” Qrow said following his sister and rubbing his neck. “My arms are killing me.”

“…I bet you’ll be glad for some sleep then, huh Summer?” Taiyang asked looking at his leader, who was just picking her cloak up off the ground and brushed off some grass.

“Yeah, I guess,” Summer answered and started following Taiyang as they walked. Not even a couple seconds of walking later Summer looked back at the forest and made up her mind, clenching her fist in the process.


	5. Intermission: Whitley

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, full disclosure, any intermission chapters like this were originally designed as filler due to how I was writing it at the time. I'm going to be planning these out a little more in the future so they won't end up like that. Still, I like these little snippets of world building and would love to put more in sometime.

Whitley Schnee was a lot of things; the third born child of the Schnee family and the only son, savvy enough to know what to do to stay in his father’s good graces, and smart enough to realize just how broken his family was. Mother preferred the company of wine more than people, Winter had left for the Atlas military a long time ago, and Weiss had been off limits to general interaction for a while now. Loneliness was a constant in their lives, but Whitley had learned how to live with it.

But one thing that he wasn’t was a fool. He had realized that something was wrong with the manor that he lived in for years. Mother’s behavior was odd, even for a total drunkard. What drunk is still able to do the same routine of visiting _every_ one of those horrendous statues that decorated the hallways every day? And then there was Weiss, who one day woke up screaming in horror as her face was bleeding from a cut over her eye. He still remembered the calm look on Winter’s face as she held a crying Weiss, not caring for the blood staining her pajamas, and did her best to calm the girl. Even Father had looked unnerved by the incident. For Whitley, that was the day he first started to realize just how wrong things were in his home.

Then there was the day that he finally saw the horror that his elder sister had been hinting at for a long time. It was the day after a Schnee Dust Company train was hijacked and an entire car of Dust was stolen. He also heard that a lot of people had died during the attack too, but nobody would talk about that around him. Seriously, he was almost 14 years old, like he’s never heard of death. In either case, the massive loss of revenue got to Father, just like every time the White Fang managed to deal a blow to the company.

Whitley had been taking a break from his studies to have Klein make him some lunch when he saw Weiss running down the hall in tears. He stepped out of her way, his eyes tracing the scar over her left eye and the bruise on her cheek, and said nothing as Weiss opened the door to her room and slammed the door behind her.

_‘Father must have lost his temper,’_ he thought with a sigh and continued walking through the halls. Whitley had been on the receiving end of his father’s temper a couple of times before, though Weiss got her fair share of that as well. Him actually getting physical however was rare, though he had seen that happen more than he’d like too.

Whitley found himself lost in thought until he had reached the kitchens and told the staff to make him lunch and deliver it to his room. When he was sure his lunch was getting made Whitley left and started back to his room, making it to the last hallway to his room when someone ran into him and knocked him down.

“Watch out! Don’t you know who-“ he started shouting until he saw who, or rather _what_ , he had ran into and felt the words die on his tongue. She (he thought it was a woman at least) looked down on him as he lay on the floor like he was a bug or some other lesser life, her white skin standing in stark contrast to her black dress. She had armor on her shoulders, jawline, and midsection, gauntlets on her hands ending in sharp red tips, and her white hair was done up in a high ponytail.

Whitley recognized the woman in front of him, since he had seen the many statues that looked exactly the same as her, but her face and eyes was new to him. She had a single large horn coming out of her forehead and her eyes were a dark black with her pupils a deep red, filled with anger that even _he_ could recognize as a Creature of Grimm. He had never seen one in person, but the pictures were enough to send chills down his spine.

And her face… looked just like Weiss. Maybe a little older, but it was definitely Weiss, right down to the scar running down her left eye.

She looked down at him for a second before walking around him and continuing on, the clacking of her black heels echoing through the hallway. Whitley’s eyes followed her as she turned around a corner and he found he could move his limbs again and he scrambled up to his feet and, against his better judgement, started following after her. He made sure to stay a corner behind her as she walked through the halls until she reached the hallway to Father’s office.

Honestly he was amazed by the woman when she barged into Father’s office without so much as knocking. The door was cracked open when Whitley quietly walked over to it and peeked inside to see the woman walking over to the desk, with Father on the phone facing away from the door.

“Do you mind,” Father had said without turning around, “I’m in the middle of some important business.” The woman responded by reaching over the desk, grabbing the scroll from Father’s hands, and _crushing it_ in her hand. If that hadn’t been enough to scare Whitley, then the sight of his father standing up and turning around angrily, only for it to immediately change into one of fear at the woman in front of him definitely did.

“Now you’re not, Gelé,” the woman said tossing the destroyed scroll aside, the echo in her voice giving Whitley goosebumps, and she crossed her arms behind her back. “Sit down.”

Whitley was surprised when his father did just that, and especially how _terrified_ he looked right now. _‘Just who is this woman? Father hates his old name and… he’s just doing what she says?’_ he thought as she paced slowly in front of the desk.

“I heard about what happened from Weiss. _All_ of it,” she said, her every word dripping with menace. “The White Fang attacked a train of yours, stole an entire car of Dust, and killed 30 people. Normally I wouldn’t care about that, I leave the business to you for exactly that reason, however your… reaction to it forced me to pay attention. I’m sure you know why.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t-“ Father started to say.

“Do _not_ lie to me Gelé! I know when you’re lying!” Father flinched at the anger in her voice. She stopped to take a deep breath before she resumed her pacing. “Don’t get me wrong, anger is a very… human way to react to something like this. Again, I wouldn’t care about that normally, but you crossed a line today that I won’t forgive.” The woman stopped and placed both of her hands on the desk and leaned close to Father.

“You. _Hurt._ My doll.”

“I…I…” Father tried to say, looking more terrified as the conversation went on.

“You overstepped your bounds,” the woman interrupted and leaned a little closer, “The only reason you and those wretches you call children have any kind of power and even _live_ at all is because of my kindness and my doll. You can get angry and snobbish all you want, but you do _not touch my property!_ Hurting that is the same as hurting me, and I _do not_ take that kindly!”

Whitley couldn’t stop thinking about what she meant as his father finally found his words. “I… just lost control,” he said barely louder than a whisper, “It won’t happen again, I swear.”

“And I’m supposed to take your word at that? Oh Gelé, you forgotten your place. You’re nothing more than a leech sucking the life out of a great family. I’m going to remind you of that and make sure you _never_ touch my property _again._ ” She pushed herself up straight and held out a hand to Father. “Give me the hand you hit her with.”

Father hesitated for a moment, shaking a little from fear, before he slowly held out his left hand. The woman’s hand clenched into a fist and she growled as she grabbed Father’s arm and pulled him up and toward her, pinning him down on top of his desk as she grabbed his right arm.

“I said,” she shouted angrily as she grabbed his wrist with one hand and his index finger with the other, “don’t lie to me!” Then she pushed the finger backwards until even Whitley could hear the snapping of bone, though that was quickly drowned out by Father’s screams of pain. Whitley covered his mouth to keep any screams of his own silent as the woman grabbed Father by the hair and pulled her up to her eye level. “You’re right handed Gelé. You do _everything_ with your right hand.

“Oh Jacques Gelé, you’re a filthy wretch who should have been _stillborn!_ ” She slammed Father’s head into the desk and continued, “You _taint_ this family with your filthy blood!” Slam. “You _break_ my herald’s heart!” Slam. “You _hurt_ my doll!” Slam! “And after all of that, you have the _audacity_ to _LIE_ to me?!” One more slam and lifted Father’s head back up, his nose bleeding and undoubtedly broken, and brought it close to hers. “I _would_ have settled with just breaking a finger, but you’ve really pissed me off now!” She let Father’s head go, moved her free hand back to his right hand, and then _turned her head_ to look Whitley in the eye.

“The boy can either watch or listen,” she said, her red eyes piercing right into Whitley, “I don’t care. Just as long as he _learns.”_ On the last word she grabbed another finger and snapped it backwards.

Whitley couldn’t watch, how could he? Instead he pressed his back against the wall and sank to the floor as Father screamed in pain. Whitley closed his eyes and sat there for the next few minutes, too afraid to try and leave or even do anything other than sit and listen to the snapping of bones and screams. Soon the screams died down and Whitley forced every fiber of his being into trying not to cry as the door opened and that _thing_ walked out and stopped in front of him.

There was a rustle of fabric and he heard the monster say, “Open your eyes.” Whitley didn’t even think of disobeying and opened his eyes immediately, finding himself face to face with _her_ kneeling down to him. Her face was nothing but contempt for him as she ran a red claw down her face. “Take this as a lesson whelp. I can make your life as pleasurable or as hurtful as I want, and that all depends on how you act. Keep your head down, tow the line, and _do not_ hurt my doll and we won’t have any problems. If you don’t… well, just look at Gelé. And I won’t be as kind to you as I was to him; _he’s_ useful.” She leaned closer to Whitley and asked, “Understood?”

Whitley nodded furiously, anything to get her away from him. She huffed a little and stood up, brushing off her black dress as she started walking away from him. She stopped after a couple of steps and said, “This whole thing never happened, I hope you realize. Speak of this and I _will_ know.” She started walking again, muttering, “I hate getting his blood on me,” and disappeared around a corner.

After a minute of gathering his courage Whitley slowly stood up and inched toward the office door and peeked inside, only to immediately gag at the sight of his Father crumpled over his desk. He was breathing heavily and _crying_ from the pain, his nose bleeding badly onto the desk while his arm was little more than pulverized meat bleeding through the white suit with his arm and each of his fingers bent in all the wrong ways. Even worse, every time he moved he moaned in pain even louder such as when he looked up at Whitley.

Whitley couldn’t take the sight and ran as fast as he could, trying his hardest not to vomit and rapidly failing at that. The only good part of that was that he managed to get to his room, and his personal bathroom, before he couldn’t hold it back anymore.

_‘At least I didn’t eat lunch yet,’_ he thought during a lull in retches, _‘That monster… oh god, I owe Weiss an apology.’_


	6. The First Step pt. 1

The first morning at Beacon Academy for the new first years was a quiet one, of getting their stuff together and preparing for the initiation that would be happening later in the day. With no exaggeration it would be the first day of the rest of their lives and hopefully a quiet one.

“WAKE UP SLEEPY HEAD!”

Or at least it would be if it weren’t for _Nora._ The girl who seemed to always be in one long stream of consciousness the previous day and who woke everyone in the Dance Hall at precisely 7 A.M. in the process of waking up _her_ friend. Indeed, as they day wore on toward the initiation, all the first years would become intimately familiar with _Nora._

Such as Pyrrha Nikos who, while accustomed to getting up early, certainly did not appreciate the wake up call from the energetic girl. She couldn’t help but wonder where the girl got the energy as she peeked her head out from under the pillow to glare at the girl, fully dressed for the day and dancing around the boy she had been with all day yesterday; Ren, she thought his name was. With her mind fully awake Pyrrha sat up and stretched her arms out over her head and turned to wake up her sleeping neighbor, only to find Jaune also fully awake and gathering his belongings into a bag.

“Good morning, Pyrrha,” Jaune said with a smile on his face.

“Good morning,” Pyrrha returned somewhat sleepily and pointed over to Nora, who was singing ‘it’s morning’ over and over. “Aren’t you…?”

“Bothered by that? Nah, I grew up with seven sisters so I’m used to it. _She’s_ actually pretty tame in comparison.” Pyrrha stared at Jaune for a moment before deciding to let it slide and got out of bed to gather her belongings together as well.

“Well, today’s the day,” Pyrrha said after she had found her toothbrush, toothpaste, and her clothes for the day. “Are you ready Jaune?”

“About as ready as I’ll ever be,” Jaune replied nervously and glanced out of the windows. “At least it stopped raining. That has to be a good sign right?” Pyrrha nodded in response and, once Jaune had his things together, the pair made their way to the Dance Hall’s bathrooms together. “So… do you happen to know where we’re going for this initiation?”

* * *

“YOU WANT TO GO _BACK?!_ ” Raven shouted at Summer, who was sitting with her legs dangling off of her bed (an improvised bunk bed that she shared with Taiyang, with her getting the top bunk through leader order. Qrow and Raven wanted no part of that silliness, so their beds remained the same as they found it.) Taiyang and Qrow definitely seemed to be in agreement with their brunette teammate, if the stares of disbelief at Summer meant anything. “ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?!”

“No, I’m not,” Summer said, both her tone and her face dead serious, as she finished mending her cloak. “If there’s even the slightest chance of that Grimm still being in there today, then we have to make sure it’s either gone or dead. It’s our duty as Huntsman and Huntresses.”

“Yeah, the ones with a _death wish!_ ”

“I agree with Rae,” Qrow said rubbing his neck, “I mean, you barely got out of that forest alive and you had to throw yourself off a cliff to do so. That Grimm is _way_ beyond our skill level.”

“Alone maybe, but not together. We’ve faced worse.” Summer bit off the thread on her cloak and looked at her handiwork and, after nodding at her handiwork, threw it over her shoulders and fastened it around her neck.

“Didn’t you say it knocked down a bunch of trees like it was nothing?” Taiyang asked, “So how are we-“

“We can manage, but if any first years run into it they won’t be able to! You saw what it could do Qrow, what do you think would happen?” Qrow looked away in silent acceptance and Summer hopped down to the floor. “Look I know you guys have reservations, but I can’t leave this alone even if Ozpin said otherwise. If someone dies out there because of that thing and I could have stopped it, I won’t be able to forgive myself.” Summer hugged herself and looked down at the floor as she thought the next part over.

“Look, if I thought I could be able to do this by myself I wouldn’t think of asking you to put yourselves on the line. The fact is that I can’t though, last night more than proved that to me. Please, just this once, help me out. After this I swear I won’t-“ Summer stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up at Taiyang who smiled softly at her.

“Like we could say no to you,” he said before jokingly adding, “It’s not like we had anything important to do today, right?”

“And a Grimm that looks like a woman,” Raven added crossing her arms and kneading the fabric of her sleeve. “That’s something that I want to look into, even if it’s not what I think it is.”

“And who knows, maybe we could spin it to Oz in a way to get extra credit,” Qrow said with a shrug, “That is, if you’re sure we won’t get in trouble for even thinking of doing this.”

“Well, technically, Ozpin only _advised_ us to get some rest. We’re just… not taking that advice,” Summer said smiling at everyone in turn. “Thank you, really.”

“Let’s hold off on that until we’re not dead, ok?” Raven moving to the door and opening it, “Come on, let’s at least get some breakfast before we hear this plan I hope you actually thought of.”

* * *

“I got it! We should come up with a plan to make sure we end up on the same team! Maybe we should try bribing the headmaster! Wait that won’t work, he has a school.”

As it turned out, breakfast was no escape from _Nora_. The only solace that her fellow first years had was now the rest of the student body was witness to her antics. Even if it was mostly just bemusement at her and Ren, who at the moment was busy carefully eating pancakes.

“Oh, I know, what if we make a petition! If we get 50 signatures and show the headmaster it-“

“That won’t work.” Nora and Ren blinked and turned around at a student in a white cloak holding a tray of Pumpkin Pete’s and some assorted fruit.

“What?”

“I’m telling you it won’t work. A couple of months ago some upperclassman made a petition for unrestricted internet access on campus or something. Professor Ozpin doesn’t care about petitions and the like though, so it fell flat. I’m just telling you so you don’t end up wasting your time.” The girl gave the pair a shrug and went on her way.

“Darn it,” Nora said snapping her fingers and placing a hand on Ren’s shoulder, “Ok, next plan, but first I’m going to need a jar of organic peanut butter. That’ll be good for pancakes.”

_‘At least some people are having fun,’_ Summer thought shaking her head slightly as she made her way over to where her team was, and found them talking with Velvet.

“Ah Summer, perfect timing,” Velvet said waving at Summer and flinched a little when she sat down next to Taiyang. “Wow, you look awful. What happened to you?”

“Close call with a nasty Grimm last night,” Summer replied pouring a bowl of cereal, “I didn’t get much sleep after that.”

“How nasty?”

“It leveled part of the forest chasing her,” Qrow said casually over his coffee.

“…Right, I can count that as a large Grimm kill if you want to,” Velvet said pulling out her scroll, “speaking of, I’m going to need your kill count for the bet Summer.”

“Oh right, that thing,” Summer sighed as she took out her scroll and pulled up Velvet’s contact. “I honestly forgot all about that after last night. And there you go.”

“Great, thank you. I’m going to be crunching those numbers for a while, so I’ll get back to you when I got the results.”

“You’re not going to cheese it in your favor, right?” Taiyang asked the obvious question.

“I’m offended Tai. If we have to resort to cheating to beat you guys, then why even bother having the competition at all?” STRQ stared at Velvet for a good moment, save for Raven who was paying more attention to the bagel she was eating, until she finally sighed. “Ok, so Coco wanted me to do that, but I’m ignoring her. She’ll thank me for that later. It’s better to win honestly and all that.”

“True words of wisdom, and I’m sure Coco was just joking,” Tai said with a nod, “anyway we have some things to talk about, so we’ll see you later.”

“Sure thing, I’ll let you and your little ‘secret society’ do your thing. Later.” After one more wave the Rabbit Faunus left with a little skip in her step. STRQ waited until she was a fair enough distance away and leaned in close to each other.

“So what _is_ the plan?” Taiyang asked. Summer, who was mid bite on some cereal, held up a finger and took out her scroll. She extended it out into its tablet mode and laid it on the table between all of them, a map of the Emerald Forest displayed on it.

“Before Raven called me last night, Ozpin said I was out of view of the cameras, right?” Summer looked at her team, who all nodded, and tapped her scroll. A red overlay appeared over a section of the forest before Summer continued, “Well, then that means I was outside of the preferred testing area for the first years. All we really need to do is go to where I encountered ‘you know what’ and investigate where it went. Once we know that, and if it left or we kill it, we simply leave the forest and the proctors won’t even know that we were there.”

“On that note,” Qrow said leaning over and tapping an area on the map, “this right here is where I picked you up. It went into the woods immediately after you lost it.”

“Are you sure that’s the place?” Raven asked, earning a flat look from Qrow, “What? One of us has to ask.”

“I’m sure.”

“And I trust him,” Summer added circling the spot Qrow tapped along with the immediate area of the forest. “So, to sum up, we go in and investigate this area for what I saw last night, kill it if it’s there and leave if it’s not, get out the same way we came in. Either way once we’re done we go back to our room, relax, and look forward to pizza. It shouldn’t take longer than an hour or two to get done.”

“And if it goes wrong or the staff finds us?” Raven asked.

“Well, we shouldn’t be in the testing area,” Taiyang said with a shrug, “so they can’t get us in trouble for wanting to interfere with that, which we don’t want to anyway. We could just say we were getting some extra training.”

“And if it goes wrong, we improvise like always,” Summer concluded picking up her scroll and closing it. “Anything else to add?”

“We’re going to need a lot more coffee,” Qrow said holding up his mug.

“Oh god yes,” Summer agreed stirring her cereal, “some coffee would go well with my breakfast.” Summer was about to take another bite when her eyes glanced over at the box, where she did a double take at the cover. “Holy shit.”

“What?” Raven asked as Summer picked up the cereal box and turned it around to show the twins, pointing wide eyed at the girl on the front; a rather familiar red head with her hair in a ponytail with bronze armor smiling as she held a bowl of the cereal. “Huh, would you look at that. I thought she seemed familiar.”

“I already knew about that,” Qrow said standing up with his mug, “It took you this long to figure that out?”

“ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?!” Taiyang said angrily, “I tell you all about her accomplishments yesterday and a cereal box is where you recognize her from?! You both suck!”

“…I’m hungry for cereal now,” Raven said quietly.

“Go get a bowl and I’ll pour you some,” the smaller girl answered shaking the box.

* * *

The lockers room, surprise, were also not safe from _Nora._

“I know! Why don’t we have a _secret code_ so we can find each other! Those two guys from yesterday gave me a really good idea about that. Do you know what a sloth sounds like?”

“Nora…” Ren said, probably the first word he had said all day.

“Yes Ren?”

“I don’t think sloths make a lot of noise.” Nora was quiet for a moment while Ren put his weapons away in his sleeves and shut his locker.

“It’s perfect then! No one will know we’re working together!” Nora exclaimed and followed Ren as he walked away, right past a bemused Raven as she was running a whetstone along her sword.

“We weren’t that bad as first years, were we?” Raven asked Summer, who was tightening the laces on her combat boots on the bench she was sitting on, and motioned at the pair as Nora was going on about not being ‘together together’.

“I would like to say no, but I’m also not the best at self-reflection,” Summer answered tapping her boots against the ground a couple of times before picking up her weapons to fasten them to her belt. “So are you just about ready?”

“Yep,” Raven answered simply holding her sword up to inspect the edge and got up to go to her locker. “I still can’t believe we’re actually doing this.”

“Thanks again for this Rae,” Summer answered as she drew York and set about refilling it with fire dust, “This means a lot to me.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’d much rather be sleeping in our room,” Raven shook her head slightly putting the whetstone away and getting her sheathe. “I guess ‘you know what’ hit a personal nerve harder than I like.” The smaller girl stopped what she was doing and looked over at Raven as she fashioned her rotary sheathe to her belt.

“Wait, you don’t think that-“

“That’s what we’re going to find out, isn’t it?” Raven cut her off sheathing her sword with a small twirl and shutting her locker. “Either way, this whole thing is still-“

“Completely ridiculous!” Jaune exclaimed out loud as he passed between Summer and Raven, derailing their conversation slightly to stare at him. He looked down at the slip of paper in his hands and shook his head, “There’s no way I put my stuff in locker 636 last night, I’d remember having to count that high! Why did this have to happen today?” During his lamentations he passed by Qrow and Taiyang, who gave the first year a look of befuddlement and sympathy respectively.

“Please tell me he didn’t actually _count_ the lockers,” Qrow said shaking his head.

“I’m sure he didn’t,” Taiyang answered and cracked his knuckles, “So you ready for this?”

“Yeah, just waiting for them,” Qrow gestured to the other half of their team and sighed, “Isn’t that how it always is?”

“Don’t let them hear you say that.” Taiyang took a second to look around the locker room at the various first years getting their weapons and armor together, along with any other preparations, and shook his head with a smile. “If only they knew. You remember when we had to do this?”

“You mean when I was sitting quietly with Raven only for _you_ to come up and try to flirt with her, then getting lambasted by Summer for _her_ bumping into _me_ , then you trying to flirt with _her_ , all before we even left this room?” Taiyang nodded and Qrow shook his head with a scowl. “No, I don’t.”

“Well I do. Good times.”

“I did apologize for that.” The boys looked up at Summer and Raven approaching them and Qrow stood up from the bench he was sitting on.

“No you didn’t,” he said to his white clad leader.

“…I didn’t?” Summer asked looking at Raven, who shook her head no. “Oh… well, sorry Qrow. I-“

“I know you’re sorry, and apology accepted.” Qrow chuckled and gave her a small smirk, causing the girl to return the laugh. “So we good to go?”

“Hello again!” Qrow’s face fell a little and he pinched his nose with a small sigh at the voice.

_‘Always something,’_ he thought as STRQ turned to Pyrrha giving them a small wave.

“Hello Pyrrha,” Summer said returning the wave, “You seem to be in a good mood.”

“Oh, you know, I’m just getting ready for the day.” Pyrrha shifted a little to get Miló and Akoúo to rest comfortably on her back. “How are you today?”

“Tired as hell, waiting for the slow embrace of death. Other than that we’re doing alright.”

“…Rough night?”

“I’m not sure if we can tell you,” Qrow answered, “but don’t worry, we can handle ourselves.”

“Oh there it is. Um, you’re in my way Summer.” Summer blinked and stepped aside so Jaune could get at a locker, which he put a code into and gave a small ‘yes’ when it opened and he found Crocea Mors inside. “And I didn’t even have to count them all!”

“Oh my god, you were serious about that.”

“That aside!” Pyrrha quickly said moving next to Jaune, “What are you all doing here? Are you helping with the initiation later?”

“No, we’re getting ready for our own mission today,” Summer answered adjusting her cloak, “And while I appreciate it, you really should focus on your initiation instead of worrying about how we’re doing.”

“Oh that reminds me!” Jaune suddenly said closing the locker and setting his sword against it, “I’ve been hearing rumors about teams since last night. I don’t suppose you can tell us how that works?”

“I’m sorry Jaune, but-“

“You can’t tell us, but you’ll find out if you survive today,” Jaune and Pyrrha finished for her with flat faces, to Summer’s mild shock. Jaune shook his head slightly and added, “We kind of figured you’d say that. Kind of getting old by now.” To _their_ surprise, Summer responded by giggling.

“I suppose it is, but that’s just how it is. I wouldn’t worry too much though, you both trained for this after all. And if you stick with Miss Cereal here, you’ll be fine Jaune.”

“Miss… what?”

“You found out about that huh?” Pyrrha said quietly.

“Yeah we did,” Raven said crossing her arms with a small smile, “but it is kind of hard not to notice you on the cover of Pumpkin Pete’s marshmallow flakes.” Raven’s smile widened when Taiyang groaned at that. _‘Oh Tai, you got to stop making it so easy.’_ Jaune, for his part, looked at Pyrrha and _really_ took her in while she simply smiled and waved at him.

“What?! That’s you!” he exclaimed pointing at Pyrrha, “but they only do that for athletes and cartoon characters!”

“Emphasis on _athletes…_ ” Taiyang growled out, causing Summer to giggle.

“Yeah, I guess it was pretty cool,” Pyrrha said scuffing her foot against the floor, “Too bad the cereal isn’t good for you.”

“Still delicious though,” Summer said just as the speakers chimed with Glynda’s voice.

_“Will all first year students please report to the Beacon Cliffs for initiation. I repeat…”_

“And that’s your cue. Good luck and remember to have fun.”

“W-wait! I know you can’t help us with this,” Jaune said in a small panic, “But I don’t suppose you can just… give us some general tips? You know, for life?” Jaune hoped that Summer would get what understand what he meant, and after a moment she did in fact seem to get it.

“Tips huh? Yeah we can do that, right guys?” Summer glanced back at her team, who all nodded with smirks. “Right, well to start…”

Jaune and even Pyrrha leaned forward, eager to hear their new upperclassmen’s words of wisdom.

“People die when they are killed,” Summer said lifting her hood over her head, “so don’t get killed.” Then she walked away, shattering the hopes of both first years.

“W-what?” Jaune asked.

“Dental hygiene is one of the most important things you can do,” Taiyang said following Summer, “so brush your teeth twice a day and don’t forget floss and mouthwash.””

“But I already-“ Pyrrha started.

“Kill the dogs first,” Qrow said and then added, “And I really mean that. If you see a monster that looks even remotely like a dog, you kill it dead first. Trust me, it’ll save you _a lot_ of trouble.” Qrow then left with a small ‘Bastards,’ to punctuate his departure.

“But… I like dogs,” Jaune whispered lowering his arms.

“And, most importantly,” Raven said, “if you hear a Goliath out in the field you run as fast as you can away from it and hope it didn’t see you. It’s not worth fighting.”

“But… what’s a-“

“I’m fucking serious. _Do. Not. Fight. Goliaths!_ Even if there’s only one, even if it’s just a juvenile, and even if it somehow managed to break one of its legs by being a dumbass before you even knew it was _there_ , don’t fight it. It’s not worth it.”

“Ok, I guess, but what is-“ Jaune stopped with a yelp when Raven grabbed him by the collar and pulled him closer.

“LISTEN TO MY WORDS MOTHER FUCKER!” She yelled shaking Jaune and scaring Pyrrha into taking a step back. “YOU DO NOT FIGHT GOLIATHS! COMPREHEND MY WORDS AND REPEAT THEM BACK TO ME OR I SWEAR-!”

“Gah, I won’t fight Goliaths even though I don’t know what those are! Please don’t hurt me!” Jaune trembled a little before breathing a sigh of relief when Raven let him go. Less so when she pat him on the head and smiled at him like a cat watching a wounded bird.

“See, it’s not so hard. Just follow those tips and you and Cereal Girl will be great Hunters in no time. Just remember _mine_ in particular. Have fun getting killed!” And with that Raven left Jaune and Pyrrha to their own devices… again, and the two were left questioning their recent life choices… again.

“I walked right into all that, didn’t I?” Jaune finally asked.

“Yeah,” Pyrrha answered.

“…Let’s just get to the cliffs.”

“Yeah…” _‘I was crazy. There’s no way they are who I thought they were.’_

* * *

“Each of you has trained for years to prepare yourselves for this day. Now it’s come, and you are now in front of your First Step.”

Finding the Beacon Cliffs wasn’t that hard, since almost everyone else that Jaune had spent the last day with had gone that direction. No, the hard part was wondering why he was standing on top of a metal plate with the school’s insignia that was conveniently placed next to the cliffs while Professor Ozpin and Goodwitch were giving a speech.

_‘Eh, I’m sure they’ll get to that soon,’_ Jaune thought as Ozpin continued.

“Behind me is the Emerald Forest, where your initiation will take place. You’re objective lies at the north end. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you _will_ die.”

_‘Oh boy.’_

“Now I’m sure you all have heard rumors about teams,” Professor Goodwitch said looking up from her scroll at each of the students in front of her. “Well, allow us to set those rumors to rest. Each of you will be assigned teammates… today.”

_‘Ok.’_ Jaune glanced down the line to his left at Pyrrha and looked back at Ozpin as he started speaking again.

“These teammates will be with you for the duration of your stay here, so it is imperative for you to choose people you can get along with.”

_‘Ok, I don’t know anyone besides Pyrrha, but that’s not a problem.’_ Jaune’s eyes narrowed a little at the realization. _‘Yup, not a problem.’_

“Having said that, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years.”

_‘…Ok, that’s a problem actually,’_ Jaune’s eyes narrowed further as Nora said ‘I told you,’ to someone and, not for the first time, he thought he may have made a small mistake coming here. Too late to worry about that now. _‘Even if the only person I know here is Pyrrha. Oh crap…’_

“You will be observed and evaluated for the duration of your initiation, but our staff will not intervene. Once you’ve all paired up and reached the north end of the forest you will find an abandoned temple and inside you will find several relics. You will collect one of these relics and bring it back to the top of these cliffs. Guard it with your life. Once you return to the top of the cliffs you will be graded based on your performance. Are there any questions?”

“Uh, yes sir,” Jaune said raising his hand, “I got-“

“Good! Now take your positions.” Jaune barely noticed how his fellow initiates were crouching down and otherwise getting ready, but ultimately paid them no mind because of the _several_ questions he had.

“S-sir, I got a question.” There was a metallic clang, followed by Nora hollering happily, as Professor Ozpin looked at him and nodded. “So this whole… going into the forest thing… are you going to drop us off in there or… something?” Those clangs were getting louder now.

“No, you will be falling,” Ozpin answered simply.

“Falling… ok,” Jaune looked to his left and only now realized what he was standing on, judging from how Ren was launched into the air. “So… did you hand out parachutes?” Jaune certainly didn’t get one, hopefully that was just a mistake.

“No, you will be using your own landing strategy.”

Jaune couldn’t keep the fear off his face at just how _loud_ those clangs were getting and knew what was coming soon. He looked to his to see Pyrrha to give him a sympathetic look just before she was launched too. “So what exactly is a la-“ Then he was launched, flailing like a ragdoll and screaming his head off as Ozpin and Glynda watched him sail away into the forest.

“There’s always one,” Glynda said simply tapping her scroll to bring up the camera feeds.

“Indeed,” Ozpin answered taking a drink of coffee. He’d never forget the ‘one’ from last year; a particular Huntress in White.

* * *

Meanwhile, Team STRQ was having fun in a forest tree with binoculars.

“And they’re off ladies and gentlemen!” Summer shouted quickly looking through a pair of binoculars at the sailing first years some distance away. “It’s a lovely day here in the Emerald Forest, nice and sunny with scattered clouds which is surprising given the weather last night, and we got a lovely batch of first years as they head toward certain injury, death, and dismemberment if they aren’t ready for the terrors to come!”

“Indeed they are Summer,” Taiyang said just as quickly and grinning like a madman, “and I have to say we have a lovely line up of potentials this year, with a few stand outs to boot! Pyrrha Nikos for instance is displaying perfect form as she goes. I will update as soon as she actually does something.”

“I personally have my eyes on the boy in the green jacket,” Qrow said watching as said boy started his descent. “He certainly seems to be the type to stay calm under pressure. And he just executed a perfect 360 tree encirclement landing!” Qrow lowered his binoculars as soon as the boy was out of sight, “Man after my own heart if I actually gave a crap.”

“And where is she going?” Raven asked as she tracked Nora (her name managed to become well known throughout the school in a matter of hours) through the air. “Forget that, I think she’s actually flapping her arms like wings. One of _those_ people huh?”

“And then there’s Vomit Boy,” Summer said losing enthusiasm at the sight of Jaune flopping helplessly through the air. “He’ll probably die on impact. That’s too bad, I actually thought he would-“ a gunshot tore through the air and a streak of red and gold snagged Jaune by the hoodie and dragged him down toward the trees. “WHAT, HANG ON, SURPRISE INTERECEPTION OUT OF NOWHERE! Probably from a certain red head!”

“You would be right,” Taiyang said with a chuckle, “Pyrrha shield bashed three trees, scanned the horizon, and fired that javelin all in ten seconds. Just what I’d expect from her.” In the distance they heard the javelin hit a tree, followed by Jaune shouting ‘thank you’ which was in turn followed by Pyrrha shouting ‘I’m sorry!’

“As for the others, who gives a shit.” Raven asked putting her binoculars away and standing up on the branch. “So are we going?”

“Wait for it…” Summer said watching the rest of the students disappear beneath the tree line. Once they were all gone she said, “And now we’re going,” and put her binoculars away and slid off the tree branch to the forest floor. She had barely landed and put her hood up when the rest of her team dropped down as well and they started walking as a group.

“We’re close to where we first saw it,” Qrow said moving ahead to take point. “We’ll just follow the carnage and see what we can discern from it.”

“And hope that it’s actually gone, for everyone’s sake,” Taiyang added, to which the others nodded in response. They walked on in silence for the next few minutes, keeping an eye on the surrounding forest for any Grimm, until Qrow picked up the pace and waved them over to a thicket of trees.

Or rather, a pair of trees cut cleanly down.

“What the fu…” Raven said in surprise as she jogged over to the tree stumps and ran a hand over the top of the slanted top. “That’s a clean cut! Your Grimm did this?”

“And that,” Summer said pointing toward a section of forest that was absolutely thrashed, where Taiyang and Qrow were kneeling next to a set of tracks measuring the stride. Summer shivered at the memory and turned back to Raven crossing her arms. “So, what’s the verdict? Is it what you’re looking for?”

“Well, do you remember what it looked like?” Raven crossed her own arms while Summer tapped her forehead. _‘I don’t think it is, but…’_

“I didn’t really get that good of a look in the rush, but I do remember it used a scythe. It was maybe six feet tall, I don’t really know. Um…”

“What about hair? Did it have hair?” Raven gripped her arm tightly as Summer continued thinking. She glanced over at Taiyang and Qrow as they made their way over to the girls and stopped when Summer nodded.

“Yes, it had hair. Short hair, about as long as mine,” Summer held out a lock of her hair and shook her head, “I think it may have been black too. It was really dark though, so-“

“It’s not it then,” Raven interrupted and shook her head with a sigh. “I should have figured, the forest would have been an inferno if it _had_ been the same one.”

“Rae…” Summer walked over and placed a hand on her partner’s shoulder, though the girl shrugged it off and turned to her brother.

“But that means we have another problem Qrow. There’s _more than one_ of those things.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Qrow replied rubbing the back of his head looking worried. “You think that’s what Oz wants to talk about later?”

“Who knows,” Taiyang shrugged and jerked a thumb back at the tracks, “but I hope he says something at least. That’s easily a two meter stride at full speed, maybe three. Something that fast and strong _and_ there might be more of them? Damn right I’d like to know, especially if they work with you know who.”

“That’ll be for later. Let’s focus on ‘now’ problems instead of ‘later’ problems,” Summer said and, once her nodded in response, started following the trail into the forest. Taiyang moved up next to her while the twins stayed behind a couple of steps.

“Some other day then, huh?” Qrow asked Raven quietly.

“Yeah. I’ve already waited three years, I can wait a little longer.” Raven clenched a fist and looked up at Summer and Taiyang and couldn’t help but smile a little. “Still, it might be easier than we thought back then.”

“Yeah.” Qrow nodded with his own smile, which dropped when he heard a loud screech echo through the forest. “What was that?”

“Giant Nevermore,” Summer answered looking up. “It didn’t sound close but… keep an eye on the skies. We don’t need any surprises right now.”

“Leave it to me,” Taiyang said walking around a broken tree and looking up at the skies through the trees.

* * *

Far away from the Emerald Forest, and indeed far away from any of the Kingdoms, there was a land of black rock and red skies, with the only recognizable landmark being a black castle towering over its surroundings. For most who would see it, it was large, imposing, and undoubtedly the home to several monsters. For Ruby, it was the closest thing to home she and her sisters had known. She gripped the feathers of the Griffon and willed it into a dive toward the landing pad on the side of the castle, the small sense of relief at being back offset by the scratching in the back of her mind.

_“You’ve finally returned General,”_ the soothing voice of Salem echoed in her mind. For just a second Ruby closed her eyes and let it fill her for a moment before answering.

“I apologize Queen, it’s a long flight from Vale; especially so by Griffon.” The mount Grimm reared and landed on the landing pad, letting Ruby off its back and taking off again once she was on her way into the castle. “Are you…?”

_“In the throne room with the other Generals. We’re all awaiting your return.”_

“I’ll be there post haste.” The scratching in her brain was gone and Ruby picked up her pace toward the throne room. Having long ago memorized the twist and turns of the castle corridors Ruby made great time and was just a corridor away. She passed by Tyrian, who was probably the only other person here besides her and her sisters who stayed more or less permanently at the castle, at the throne room doors and like every other time they crossed paths he wisely stayed out of her way.

Ruby pushed open the doors and entered the throne room, even if it was in practice more of a meeting room, and found herself the center of attention. Salem was at the head of the table with her sisters on the chairs closest to her on either side of the table, Weiss and Blake on one side and Yang on the other with only a brush for company. Ruby closed the doors behind her and bowed to Salem, her right hand balled over her heart.

“At ease,” Salem said and Ruby complied, straightening and crossing her arms behind her back. “As I was saying to the others just now, your combined work has provided valuable information. Vale will remain our focus for now, and once we’re done we’ll move on.”

“Yes, that sounds like good plan Queen,” Ruby said her eyes downcast to the ground.

“What’s your problem?” Yang asked and stopped brushing her hair. “You’re acting like Weiss when she gets caught eating-“ She stopped and widened her eyes before she smiled widely at Ruby, who glared at the larger General.

“I told you not to talk about my eating habits Yang!” Weiss shouted and stood up from her seat. “I swear if you say another-!”

“You screwed up!” Yang shouted suddenly and pointed her brush at Ruby. “I don’t know how, but you screwed up your mission!” Yang threw the brush onto the table and leaned back in her chair and put her feet up on the table. “This’ll be good to hear.”

“Get your feet of the table,” Salem said darkly and clenched her hands slightly. Yang’s eyes widened and she quickly got her feet off the table and Weiss sat down for good measure. After staring at Yang until she gave a quick ‘Sorry Queen,’ Salem turned her attention back to Ruby and asked, “Is there something you wish to tell me?”

Ruby thought for a second before she started speaking. “There was a small complication.” Salem’s hands clenched a little tighter and her eyes narrowed, but she said nothing. “I was spotted by a Huntress in training when I was about to leave Vale. She’s dead now though, I dropped her off a cliff myself.”

“And the problem is?”

“Well… I was in a hurry to get back, so I didn’t check to make sure she was _actually_ dead. I would like to make sure she is, and if she isn’t rectify it.” Salem closed her eyes in thought, the room absolutely still in the meantime, until she waved a hand in the air and opened her eyes.

“I’ll allow you to do just that, but I need you here. Use a Seer and do what you need to and nothing more.”

“Of course Queen, and thank you,” Ruby said and bowed one more time before moving to the chair next to Yang, brushing off her combat dress before sitting down.

“How are you not sure if someone you fought is dead?” Yang leaned over to whisper into Ruby’s ear, “Even I know that doesn’t happen with you.”

“I’ll explain when I’m done,” Ruby whispered back and glanced over at the door as a Seer slipped though it and floated behind her. “Don’t worry though, this won’t take very long,” she said as the Seer’s tendrils surrounded her and she closed her eyes.

Ruby felt her consciousness leave her body and, with the Seer’s help, entered the mercurial landscape of the Grimm hivemind. She drifted through the ‘mist’ and past several red cores looking for a suitable Grimm for her purpose. _“Mobile and strong… mobile and strong…”_ she repeated to herself as she looked around until she stopped next to a core and nodded. _“You’ll do, especially since you’re close to where I need to be.”_ She grabbed the core and forced herself to look though it, closing her eyes for a second before opening them to see herself flying over the Emerald Forest.

**_“I need you to search for something_ ,”** she told the Grimm, who gave a screech in response **. _“I’ll point you in the right direction, just be my eyes and do what you do best if needed.”_** Another screech in response and Ruby pointed the flying beast in the right direction.

* * *

“Let me get this straight,” Raven said looking down into a ravine, the same one that Summer fell down the previous night, “You jumped into this thing to escape that Grimm. You really are insane.”

“Looking at it now that I’m calm, you’re absolutely right,” Summer replied taking a step back from the ledge. “Still, it was the only way out at the time. Or would you rather you open a portal and I lead it right to you?” Raven looked behind her at a small section of destroyed trees that Taiyang was looking at.

“Fair point,” Raven said and followed Summer back to Taiyang. “Hey Tai, have you found anything yet?”

“No, I haven’t seen anything yet,” he answered looking up, “but that damn Nevermore certainly won’t shut up.” Said Nevermore screeched right then just to taunt him.

“I meant on the ground!”

“Oh… no, that was Qrow’s job.”

“Oh my fucking-!”

“I don’t think it’s here anymore.” Raven and Summer leaned around Taiyang as Qrow walked toward them. He jerked a thumb behind him and added, “There are tracks that lead back there that just stop. It didn’t look like it could fly, but if it could talk it might have a workaround; you know, like a flying Grimm to ride or something.”

“Ugh, that’s the last thing we need; Grimm riding Grimm,” Summer said rubbing her forehead, “But, at the very least, it seems we got what we came for.”

“So… we’re done? We can go back and just sleep now?” Raven asked crossing her arms behind her head.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Summer nodded and started walking to the cliffs. “If you don’t mind getting to the top Rae we can-“ A loud screech interrupted her, causing her to clench a fist and yell, “God, shut up!”

“Uh, I just found the Nevermore,” Taiyang said pointing to the sky. The team turned to see a Giant Nevermore flying towards them near the cliff. “That… is a really big bird.”

“That’s not right,” Raven said lowering her arms and narrowing her eyes. “Isn’t the Defense Grid right there? If it flies a little closer it’ll be blown to bits, so why is it so close?”

“You’re right,” Summer replied, “animals learn to avoid things that cause them pain and Grimm are no different. That shouldn’t be anywhere close to where it is.”

“So… bad?”

“Very.”

The Giant Nevermore spotted the group from the skies and its eyes narrowed, black sclera edging in from the sides of its eyes.

**_“Well, would you look at that. Thought you were clever, huh?”_** The Nevermore’s vision narrowed more until it got a good look on the four Huntsman, more specifically the one in the cloak. **_“Investigating me huh? I hope it was worth it for you. Forget what I said, you have new orders: Kill the Huntress in the white cloak, by any means necessary.”_** The Nevermore screeched loudly and opened its wings wide.

“Oh shit, it’s going to attack!” Qrow shouted.

“Run for it!” Summer ordered and the team broke into a run for the trees.

* * *

“And the last pair has just been formed: Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie.” Glynda tapped her scroll to enlarge the image of said pair, Ren having just killed a King Taijitu when Nora dropped from the treetops upside down. “That poor boy, I can’t imagine what it’ll be like partnered with a girl like her.” Ozpin grunted in acknowledgment, though not looking up from his scroll. “Still, he’ll probably fare better than Miss Nikos will. I don’t care what the transcripts say, that boy is not ready for this level of combat.”

‘That boy’ being Jaune Arc, who’s first act in the forest was getting pinned to a tree by a javelin; which really was a precursor to his performance today. _‘Still, could be worse,’_ Ozpin thought as he watched Jaune and Pyrrha walk though the forest on the cameras.

“That aside, the initiation seems to be going well and the first pairs will be approaching the ruins in a few minutes. Speaking of, what did you use for relics this year? Professor Ozpin?” Glynda looked at Ozpin, who didn’t look up from the camera feed on his scroll.

Until they received a proximity alarm on both of theirs.

“What is…?” Glynda asked tapping the alarm icon. “Hm… a Giant Nevermore is close to the Defense Grid. It’s not trying to break though, but it is too close for comfort.”

“Keep an eye on it,” Ozpin said tapping the alarm icon on as well, keeping the camera feed up, “I think I know what’s causing that.”

“What do you-?”

“Too many odd things are happening one after another. Then… last night, one of _them_ showed up.” Glynda’s eyes widened and she nodded before turning her attention back to the alert.

A Giant Nevermore’s screech echoed through the air.

* * *

“What was that?” Jaune asked at the sound of the screech.

“A large Grimm, I don’t know the type,” Pyrrha answered. “That and the gunfire earlier, our comrades must have found the enemy.”

“Uh… right.” Jaune’s day hadn’t exactly been going well, except for Pyrrha finding him first. It was still pretty cool watching her climb the trees to get to him while he was pinned. After that, Jaune was more than happy to let Pyrrha take the lead though the forest.

A second after he thought that, he got hit by a tree branch to the face and was floored.

“Oh, sorry!” Pyrrha said once it happened, since it was her fault.

“It’s fine, I just got a scratch.” Jaune stood back up, trying to ignore the sting of pain from his cheek, and wiped off the small bit of blood he got onto his jeans.

“Why didn’t you activate your Aura?”

“My what?”

“…Your Aura.”

“Gesundheit.”

Pyrrha blinked and asked, “…Jaune, do you know what Aura is?”

_‘Wait, that’s an_ actual thing _?! Crap, make something up moron!’_ “Uh, of course I know! Do _you_ know what Aura is?” _‘…Smooth dummy.’_

Thankfully Pyrrha only chuckled a little before explaining, “Aura is the outward manifestation of the our souls. It bears our burdens and shields our hearts.”

* * *

_“Jaune, have you ever felt like something or someone was watching you that you couldn’t see, but could feel?”_

_“Yeah…”_

“Son of a bitch!”

“Spread out, don’t make a larger target for it!”

“I’m going to stab the fuck out of that thing!”

Team STRQ was not having a good time, but then again when you’re being bombarded by razor sharp feathers the size of trees it’s hard to have one. Still, at least dodging around the feathers and hiding behind the ones that had landed was easier than it could have been.

_“With practice, Aura can be our shield. Everyone has it, even animals.”_

_“What about monsters?”_

“No, don’t spread out, group up!” Summer shouted blinking out of the way of a feather, “We need to get to the trees!”

“Group up?!” Taiyang shouted from behind a feather he was using as cover, “Are you cra- oh I get it!”

_“No, the monsters we fight are Creatures of Grimm; soulless and anonymity manifest. The darkness to our light”_

_“Right, that’s why we fight them.”_

“It stopped firing, now’s our chance!” Qrow shouted once the earth stopped blowing up around them and they started dashing toward the trees. Summer focused on the tree lines and charged her semblance for a jump.

_“It’s not about why, it’s about knowing. By understanding both dark and light, we can manifest our Aura. Everyone has both.”_

“Gotcha!” Taiyang called out grabbing onto her cloak, followed by affirmations from both Qrow and Raven after they grabbed her cloak too.

“Jump!” Summer ordered and, once everyone did so, Blinked to the tree line leaving behind a long trail of rose petals. STRQ stopped just at the tree line and rolled (or rather crashed) past the first set of trees. Once they stopped Summer breathed out a sigh of relief and picked herself up. “Is everyone ok?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m fine.”

“Seriously going to stab that fucking thing to death.”

_“By manifesting our Aura outwards, we can deflect harm away from ourselves. All of our tools and equipment are conduits for Aura, and fighting brings it out the strongest.”_

“We’re not stabbing anything! As long as we’re in the trees the Nevermore can’t-“ There was a crash and Summer was thrown forward by a sudden wind and hit a tree. The screeching of the Nevermore was _much_ closer than last time, mostly because the Nevermore was now _feet_ away lunging at her. The trees strained against it and it’s beak was closing around her. “Oh crap!”

“Summer!”

_“So it’s like a force field!”_

_“Yes, I suppose that’s a good way to put it.”_

Summer was growling from the exertion, her hands on the tree she crashed into while her feet were holding the Nevermore at bay, one on each half of its beak. Her feet was glowing white as she pushed as much Aura as she could to her legs, though the Nevermore was slowly getting closer.

“Help me goddammit!” Summer shouted and pushed the Nevermore back a little more.

“SLAM!” The pressure was suddenly off of her and she fell to the ground when Taiyang tackled the Nevermore, his leading arm glowing yellow from Aura. Summer rolled to her feet, drew Soleil, and aimed it at the Nevermore. Futile yes, but it didn’t matter once it turned back to her only to meet Raven’s sword intimately via its eye.

“Flock off Feather Face!” She shouted at it and pushed her sword a little further before pulling it out and jumping away from it with another swipe at the eye as it started thrashing around, flattening any trees that were too close to it. “What the fuck is wrong with its eyes?!”

“Who cares, run!” Summer shouted and fired a few rounds at the Nevermore as her team ran past her, following after them once Raven was past her. Once they were at a sprint Summer looked behind her to see the Nevermore taking flight again and going over them.

“That bastard is determined,” Qrow said slowing down to a jog, “And I’ve never seen a Nevermore land just to kill one person before.”

“What makes you think that?” Raven asked.

“Because _I_ was closest to it and it still went after Summer. This isn’t normal by any stretch of the word!”

_‘Nothing’s been normal for a while now. If it is after me… we need to test that,’_ Summer thought before saying out loud, “We need to split up! Make smaller targets for it. Black Rose and Fireball, got it?”

“Got it,” they agreed at once.

“Go!” Summer took off in a run with Raven behind her, while Taiyang and Qrow went another way. Summer looked to Raven when she growled angrily.

“Seriously want to stab it to death.”

“Raven, if you stop saying that, I’ll let you. I’ve half a mind to do it myself.”

* * *

“Hm, the Nevermore is heading into the forest. That’s either very good, or very bad.” Glynda looked over at Ozpin, who nodded and tapped a camera feed on his scroll. “So how do you know one of them was here last night?”

“Summer encountered it last night. She couldn’t say which one, but it worries me all the same. When our business is done today I’ll tell STRQ about them.”

“Is that wise? After what happened with-“

“It’s precisely _because_ of that. If I don’t tell them, then they’ll try to find out for themselves which will get them into even more trouble than they already are.” Ozpin’s scroll beeped and he opened a camera feed that registered. “Well, speak and they will appear.”

* * *

“Well, I think we lost it,” Taiyang said stopping and bending over to catch his breath. “That’s good, right?”

“Only if the girls lost it too,” Qrow answered putting his hands in his pockets. “That Nevermore wasn’t acting normal after all.”

“Yeah, and since Rae pointed it out, something was wrong with its eyes. Did you see that?”

“Nope, too busy running for my life.” Taiyang straightened up while Qrow looked around and asked, “So, do you know where we are?”

“Nope, too busy running for my life. I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re in the way of the cameras now.”

“Which means the proctors would know we’re here now. Just great.” Qrow shrugged and shook his head. “Oh well, I can handle getting in trouble if it means we all get out of here alive. Let’s just stay away from first years.”

“Yeah, I’d prefer not to get in trouble.” Suddenly a scream tore through the air and Taiyang and Qrow looked around in confusion. “That sounded like a girl in trouble! Do you think that was Summer or Raven?”

“Raven doesn’t scream, not in terror at any rate, and Summer doesn’t sound like that,” Qrow replied and shook his head, “Which means that was probably a first year girl. I don’t want to get in trouble more than we already might be, so we should just ignore-“ it was just then that Qrow was alone and saw Taiyang running in the direction of the scream. “Of course. I bet Summer and Raven don’t have to deal with this crap.” Nevertheless, Qrow took off after his partner.

* * *

“And you’re sure about the eyes? You saw that?” For the moment Summer and Raven have lost the Nevermore and decided to go over some things while they walked through the woods.

“I stabbed it in the eye, damn right I saw that,” Raven said pulling her eyelids open, “Grimm always have solid red eyes, and the Nevermore had black and red. I’ve only ever seen that _one_ other time and it was a _real_ bastard. No way that’s a coincidence.”

“So… they were like human eyes, but with black instead of white?” Raven nodded and Summer stopped to tug on a strand of hair. “I think I saw the same kind of eyes myself last night. Just what is going on?”

“I know who’ll have answers, or he’d better have them.” Raven stopped at the edge of a clearing and held her arm out to stop Summer. “No, we should avoid clearings at all costs. I don’t want to be target practice for that bird again.”

“You and me both. What we really need to do is find Taiyang and- LOOK OUT!” Summer grabbed Raven and Blinked into the clearing, mildly disorienting the brunette. Raven looked back at where they were to find a Beowolf right where they were standing.

“Goddammit, it’s always something isn’t it?” Raven asked pressing her back against Summer’s and drew their weapons as more Beowolves emerged from the trees around them. “I got eight on my side, how about you?”

“Five,” Summer answered and aimed her gun at the nearest Beowolf. “This should be easy then.”

“I’d hope so. Otherwise we-“ Raven stopped when a Beowolf started clawing at its head before it opened its eyes with black overtaking it while the red narrowed at them. “Oh that’s not good. We’re probably going to have company soon!”

“Then let’s kill them quickly. Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Go!” Summer and Raven dashed in opposite directions, Summer shooting the closest Beowolf’s head apart before Blinking to another and stabbing it in the throat while Raven shot toward the Weird Eyed Grimm and swung at its open jaw, lopping the top of its head off. She dodge back once it was dead to avoid a swipe from another Grimm, though it regretted that once Raven found her footing and cut it in half at the waist.

Raven sheathed her sword and waited for three Beowolves to lunge at her, which was when she pulled the trigger and caught the sword as it flew out, using the momentum to spin in a circle and cut two of the Grimm in half and the legs off the last one. The last one was on the ground for only a second before Raven jumped and stabbed a sword though its chest.

“Raven!” Summer shouted, which Raven answered by pulling her sword out of the Beowolf and swinging it in the air to open a portal to Summer. On her end Summer pushed back the last of her Beowolves back and sheathed York just as the portal opened behind her. She jumped backwards into and, once she was on the other side, fired the last of her rounds into the portal which killed the Grimm on the other side before it closed.

“I’m sick of fighting base bitches,” Raven said watching the last few Beowolves slowly circle them, her sword held up in front of her while Summer reloaded next to her. She had just finished when they heard a familiar screech echo in the air. “And ugly’s back. Let’s mop these guys up.”

“It’s too close now,” Summer replied looking up at the Nevermore diving towards them. She tapped a finger against her pistol in thought for a moment before nodding and turning it back into a dagger and sheathing it.

“What are you-?”

“Trust me?”

“That depends on what you’re doing.” Raven took a step backwards toward Summer as the Beowolves started closing in.

“You did say you wanted to stab it.” Raven’s eyes widened and she looked up at the Nevermore before sighing.

“Oh for- fine! Count it down.”

“You have three seconds.” Raven rolled her eyes and sheathed her sword before turning around and grabbing a charged up Summer’s shoulder. A second later they were in the air in a storm of petals right in front of the Nevermore and scrambled to get a grip on its feathers while the Beowolves howled and tried to chase after them.

* * *

Not that long ago, Jaune and Pyrrha found themselves standing in front of a cave.

“You think this is the place?” Jaune asked looking into the cave.

“I suppose it looks suspicious,” Pyrrha agreed and looked to the paintings right next to the entrance which showed a hunting party fighting a giant scorpion, “but I don’t think this is what we’re looking for.”

“Still worth a look,” Jaune decided and moved over to a nearby tree and picked up a branch from the floor. He then grabbed a couple of leaves and, with Pyrrha looking over his shoulder curiously, held up a makeshift torch. He then reached back to his pouch and pulled a flint and steel to light it, which admittedly took a few tries but it did work. “Yes! Glad I remember how to do that.”

“…How do you know how to do that?” Pyrrha asked, once again silently marveling at the odd mix of knowledge the blonde had.

“I got lost in a cave with my sister Saphron when I was ten. She made a torch, led us out, and made sure _I_ knew how to do that afterwards.” Jaune rolled his eyes and walked into the cave, Pyrrha following close behind. “My sisters are annoying, but they do know some cool stuff.”

“Well, they sound nice.” Jaune shrugged at that and continued into the cave until the light from the entrance was gone. With only the fire of the torch to light the way the pair walked though the damp cave until Pyrrha asked, “Are you sure this is a good idea Jaune?”

“Pyrrha, I went through the trouble,” Jaune gestured at the torch, “Just humor me for another few feet.” Jaune then promptly tripped on a rock and dropped the torch into a puddle, plunging the both of them into darkness.

“Are you ok Jaune?” Pyrrha asked while Jaune picked himself up.

“I’m ok.”

“Do you… feel something warm?”

“That and soul crushing regret.” Jaune walked a few steps forward in the darkness when he saw a faint yellow glow further in. “Hey, I see a glow! I think it’s the relic!”

“Jaune, wait! Let me get to you!” Pyrrha cried out feeling for a wall.

“Found it! Hey, stop moving!”

“Jaune…?” Pyrrha started carefully stepping backwards as a chittering sound filled the cave.

“I got it!” Jaune shouted and that chittering was getting louder and louder until Jaune screamed loudly and Pyrrha felt the cave start to shake as something started coming closer. Naturally, Pyrrha did the sane thing and started running for the exit with whatever was coming out right behind her. Soon she saw the light from the cave entrance and made an extra effort to dash outside.

And ran right into Taiyang, knocking both of them to the ground. Pyrrha laid there for a second groaning before she got back to her feet and held her javelin ready in front of her. “Pyrrha? What are you doing here?”

“What are _you_ doing here?!” Pyrrha shouted and pointed at the cave, “Get up, there’s a monster coming out!” Taiyang blinked and flipped onto his feet and getting into a fighting stance as the cave rumbled a little.

“I told you to ignore it!” Qrow shouted as he ran up to them with Harbinger already drawn, “But no, you had to be a hero! Just my luck!”

“Stop bitching about your luck!” Taiyang shouted back. “You’d have come here too if it were up to you!” Another high pitched scream came from inside the cave and the rumbling grew louder. “See, a girl’s in trouble in there!”

“But it’s just Jaune in there!” Pyrrha said.

“…So a girl is in trouble then.”

“Oh shut up you-“ Qrow started to say.

“Both of you shut up! It’s here!” The front of the cave started to crack and the trio got ready again, backing up a couple of steps just in case.

“Ah don’t worry Pyrrha,” Taiyang said cracking his knuckles, “you’re about to see what real pros can-“ the front of the cave finally blew open and Taiyang froze as a Giant Deathstalker emerged roaring at the sky, snipping its pincers and swinging a hapless Jaune around as he hung from its stinger. “…do…”

“Oh shit,” was Qrow’s reaction as he held up Harbinger and glanced at Taiyang.

“Uh…” Taiyang couldn’t keep his eyes off the stinger and backed up a step.

“Don’t you fucking _DARE_ Tai!”

“Pyrrha!” Jaune cried holding for dear life, “this isn’t a relic! Help!”

“Don’t worry Jaune! Whatever you do, don’t let-“ Pyrrha’s advice was interrupted when the Deathstalker swung its tail forward, launching Jaune into the air while Pyrrha and Qrow watched him go. “…Go. Ok, this is less than fine, but we can- WHERE’S TAIYANG?!”

“What?!” Qrow looked away from the Deathstalker to where Taiyang _used_ to be, only to find empty space and a dust cloud. “You arachnophobic son of a bitch!” The chittering of the Deathstalker got both Qrow and Pyrrha’s attention again and the looked slowly looked back at it as it sunk down to look at them.

“Um, what do we do?” Pyrrha asked worriedly.

“Haul ass,” Qrow answered and proceeded to do just that, running in the same direction that Jaune got launched in. Pyrrha followed after a second and quickened her pace when the Deathstalker roared and took off after her.


	7. The First Step pt. 2

“This is so insane! We could be sleeping in our room right now, having the most relaxing day ever, but look where we’re at now!”

Indeed, Summer did have to agree with Raven on that. There are very few things she’d rather be doing other than getting some sleep right now and being on the back of a Giant Nevermore a thousand feet in the air was not one of them. Still though…

“Quit bitching Raven!” Summer shouted at her partner over the wind. “You can either do that, or you can help kill this thing! Which one do you want?”

“Can I do both?”

“Just go stab its eyes! If it can’t see it’ll have to land and we can kill it easier! I’ll take the right side and you get the left ok?” Raven gave a thumbs up and started climbing slowly toward the Nevermore’s head while Summer climbed across its back. The Nevermore turned sharply to the right, shaking Summer around a little though she managed to maintain her grip on its feathers. She swallowed dryly when she looked down at the forest far below her before she spun around and focused on slowly climbing.

After a moment the Nevermore straightened out and Summer managed to make the last jump over to the Grimm’s head and grabbed onto the bone crest on its face. She looked back to see Raven had only gotten to its neck and moved in front of the only eye left on its right side, which narrowed when it saw her.

_‘Ok, that actually is really creepy,’_ she thought as it narrowed further, her own image reflected in the black parts of the eye.. _‘Just what is causing it?’_ That soon became the last worry on her mind when the Nevermore screeched and tucked its wings in to go into a spin. Summer gave a yelp as it spun fast enough for her to lose her footing and she found herself once again hanging over the forest with only her own grip keeping her from falling. Due to the spin once the Nevermore straightened itself and put its wings out again, Summer was lying against its beak back first. She lost her grip for just a moment right when the Grimm thrashed its head around sending her into the air.

Time slowed for her as she hung in the air and found herself staring down the gullet of the Nevermore, its beak coming closer to biting down on her, and she glanced at a wide eyed Raven right before she Blinked to her left. Time returned to normal as the Grimm bit down on nothing and Summer passed right over the wing she had been climbing on seconds earlier. She tried to grab for some feathers, but all of them slipped through her fingers and she found herself falling away.

“Summer!” Raven shouted as she reached futilely for Summer as she fell away screaming. She clenched a fist after a second and turned back to the Nevermore’s head. “I’m going to hurt you for that!”

* * *

Far away from the drama in the air, yet not too far away at the same time, a pair of initiates found their way to the ruins they were told about and the one who had placed himself in the leadership role of the pair entered and looked around at the relics surrounding him.

“See, I told you it’d be easy!” said one Cardin Winchester, a rather muscular Huntsman adorned in ornate armor who wielded a mace, as he walked over to the black bishop and took it for himself. “Not even any of those monsters gave us trouble, like they ever could.”

“When you’re right, you’re right,” Dove Bronzewing, a slightly smaller boy in similar armor with a gun blade, nodded in reply as Cardin walked back over to him putting the bishop away in his armor. “So do we head back?”

“Uh, no duh! I don’t want to stick around any longer than I have to!” Cardin said with no small amount of irritation. “If we do, some dumb crap will probably happen to drag us into something silly. No thank you.”

“That makes sense. I don’t really want to-“ Dove stopped and looked around in confusion, “Do you hear that Cardin?”

“No, I don’t hear anything.”

“Really, it sounds like screaming.” Dove finally looked up and nodded slowly pointed upwards, “Oh, that would be it.” Cardin cocked an eyebrow at his partner before following the finger up.

_‘I’m gonna die I’m gonna die I’m gonna die!’_ were the rather eloquent thoughts that were going through Summer’s mind as she fell to the ground, thought he vocalizations was the much less eloquent “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” As the forest floor came up to meet her time once again slowed for her in what would probably be her final moments when something slammed into her side, sending her sideways and back first into a tree. Her Aura flared up to take the worst of the hit, though Summer was still fairly dazed as was to be expected.

“Ow… what hit me?” Summer muttered before shaking the crows and ravens out of her vision and pushed her hood down to find Jaune hanging upside down next to her.

“Hi Summer,” he said waving at her before letting his arms hang again.

“…Hi Jaune. Was that you who just saved my life?”

“Sure, I’ll take credit for that if you help me down.” Summer laughed a little and stood up to grab Jaune’s sweatshirt.

“That girl just fell out of the sky,” Dove said pointing at the tree.

“Yeah, I have eyes dumbass,” Cardin replied in annoyance, “And this is what I meant! Now something else will-“

An explosion rocked the nearby forest, leaving Cardin to groan as an Ursa came out of the tree line swinging before dropping dead with _Nora_ rolling over its head and onto the forest floor. “Aw, I broke it,” she said looking back at the Ursa and an exhausted Ren climbing off of it.

“Nora, let’s not do this again,” he said looking only to find Nora gone, which he could only sigh at and start walking to the Ruins.

“I’m Queen of the castle!” Cardin and Dove blinked and looked behind them to find Nora dancing happily one of the pedestals with one of the white Rooks on her head.

“Did she ride all the way here on an Ursa?” Cardin looked over at Summer, who had managed to get herself and Jaune down to the ground.

“Forget that, how did she get past me without me seeing her?!” was Cardin’s question, which was quickly replaced by ‘who’s screaming _now_?’ The assembled students looked behind them to find a blonde boy running for his life out of the trees.

“Summer!” he screamed when he saw the white clad girl and immediately changed course towards her.

“Tai?” Summer replied just as Taiyang dove for her and grabbed onto her right leg. _‘Is he crying?!’_

“Summer, save me! It’s big and ugly and _oh god I don’t want to get bit by it!_ ” Taiyang squeezed Summer’s leg harder and kept repeating “Save me!” to her over and over.

“Tai, get off me!” Summer said trying to push her blonde teammate off of her.

“Nora, get off of him!” Ren said looking above Cardin, who looked up to see _Nora_ looking down at him having _somehow_ gotten on top of his shoulders.

“Get off of me!” Cardin shouted moving backwards, leaving Nora to front flip into Ren’s arms, who caught her bridal style. “You people are crazy! I swear if _one more_ crazy thing happens I’m just going to-“ there was a crashing of trees and Cardin could only sigh as everyone turned to see Qrow and Pyrrha running out of the woods followed by a Giant Deathstalker right behind them.

“Oh god, it’s here!” Taiyang shouted and hugged Summer’s leg tighter, the girl giving a small sigh of understanding before continuing to push Taiyang off her leg again.

“…I’m leaving. Have fun with all of that,” Cardin said before walking off into the woods away from the Deathstalker.

“Uh, but Cardin…?” Dove started.

“You know what, you should listen to your partner,” Summer said calmly, “I can tell already that you two would just be a liability. Unless you want to be Deathstalker food, just go.” At that moment the Deathstalker hit Qrow out of its path, launching him over to the group where he slid to a stop on his back, and continued chasing Pyrrha though the field. “So?”

“…You don’t have to tell me twice,” Dove said and ran after Cardin, calling after him as he went.

“Well that’s one less problem,” Summer said once Dove was gone and looked over at Qrow getting up and brushing himself off. “Anyway, how are you doing Qrow? Still alive?”

“I just got slapped by a Deathstalker,” he said simply with a shrug, “I could be better, but it could still be way worse.”

“I know the feeling, I fell off a Nevermore. Can you help get your boyfriend off my leg?” Summer pointed down at a still terrified Taiyang and Qrow sighed as he walked over and started working Taiyang off of Summer.

“I thought you were over this scorpion thing Tai,” he said once he managed to get Taiyang loosened enough for Summer to slip her leg out of.

“No Qrow, I’m not over it! And even if I was I’d still run from _that_ giant bastard!”

Qrow looked over at the Giant Deathstalker, still chasing Pyrrha, and shrugged and said, “Yeah fair enough. I ran after all. Which reminds me, where’s Raven?”

“Well, she was on the Nevermore with me, so she’s-“

“That Nevermore?” Nora asked pointing up while miming a telescope with her other hand. Summer looked up and nodded when she saw the Nevermore that had been dogging her all day thrashing its head and flying erratically.

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

“You were on _that thing?!_ ” Jaune said worriedly.

“Yeah, and its been pissing me off all day long. I think we’re close to getting it though.”

“Help me!” Pyrrha shouted at the group after ducking a swipe from the Deathstalker.

“You’re doing great Pyrrha, we almost got a plan worked out! Remember, breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth!”

“And don’t let it bite you!” Taiyang offered, “Deathstalker venom can kill in five seconds!”

“That’s not even remotely true,” Qrow said shaking his head, “And I would think the stinger itself would kill you faster than the venom.”

“Shut up Qrow, you don’t know anything!”

Suddenly the Nevermore screeched and thrashed around just as a portal opened next to the group and Raven came tumbling out of it and hit the ground roughly.

“You fucker!” she shouted sitting up and looked around before her gaze landed on Summer. “Oh, you’re alive Summer.”

“Yeah, thanks to Jaune,” Summer said motioning at Jaune, who gave a bashful laugh and scratched his cheek.

“Wish I had known that a minute earlier,” Raven pushed herself up to her feet and brushed herself off. “Well whatever. I took care of its eyes on the left side by the way, so it’s almost totally blind by now.”

“Finally some good news. After that we have to deal with that Deathstalker.” Summer pointed out to the field where the Deathstalker was _still_ chasing Pyrrha, at least until she was knocked through the air and landed on Jaune. “Which will be a problem. Welcome back Pyrrha, how did you do against that?”

“Poorly,” Pyrrha replied getting up slowly.

“That’s ok, as long as you learned from the experience.”

“Yeah, too bad we’re going to die here. They’re both coming this way,” Taiyang said pointing at the rapidly approaching Deathstalker while the Nevermore circled in the air.

“Oh for- fine, I’ll buy some time,” Summer sighed and started walking to the middle of the field. “Seriously, I have to do everything myself sometimes.”

“H-hey, where are you going?!” Pyrrha said shaking some of the stars out of her eyes, “It’s too da-“

“Now hold on, I want to see where she’s going with this,” Raven said crossing her arms behind her head and looked up at the Nevermore.

**_“Alright, this is starting to get irritating,”_** Ruby muttered looking though the Nevermore’s crippled eyesight. She had tried to get into the Deathstalker’s mind, but the thing’s core was so deteriorated and rotten that Ruby wasn’t sure if it wouldn’t attack _her_ if it saw her. **_“Whatever, as long as it ends up doing what I want I don’t care. And as for_ you _,”_** she turned her attention back to the Nevermore, **_“If you can’t see the right Huntress, then just kill everyone you_ can _see. I really don’t care anymore, I’m sure you’ll get her.”_**

“Uh oh,” Raven said once she saw the Nevermore rearing back to attack, “Uh, Summer…!”

“I see it,” Summer shouted back and started running toward the Deathstalker. Not that that helped everyone else once the Nevermore fired its feathers down at them.

“Everyone get to cover!” Taiyang shouted shoving Jaune and Pyrrha into a sprint toward the ruins and they barely managed to get into them just as the first of the feathers crashed where they had been, sending the less sure footed members of the group flying (which was really just Jaune and Nora, though the latter at least seemed to enjoy the short flight.) The bombardment didn’t last long as the feathers started to follow Summer as she and the Deathstalker charged at each other.

“Oh, don’t tell me she’s-“ Qrow said peeking out from behind a feather.

“-Gonna die!” Jaune finished just as the Deathstalker reached Summer and reared a pincer back and threw it at Summer. She ducked under it and Blinked underneath the Deathstalker, which chittered a little and started to walk backwards to find its prey.

Or it would have if it hadn’t gotten pinned by Nevermore feathers; one going through the left pincer, two going through a leg on either side, and several more embedding themselves around it.

**_“…Oops.”_ **

“Oh shit, Summer!” Taiyang shouted as the Deathstalker roared and struggled against the feathers impaled in it. “Is she ok?!”

“Is she- what about us?!” Jaune shouted outraged and banged a fist against the closest Nevermore feather, “we get attacked by a giant bird and we don’t even get a passing concern?!”

“Are you dead?” Qrow asked.

“Well…” Jaune faltered and looked behind him at Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora picking themselves up off the ground, “…No.”

“Then you’re fine, stop bitching. Meanwhile Summer is-“

“Completely ok,” Nora interrupted pointing over at the Deathstalker, more specifically the shape of white that emerged from behind it and kept a fair distance from its stinger. “What are the odds huh?”

“…Yeah.” _‘Why are we only lucky when we spit death in the face?’_ Qrow looked at Raven, who rolled her eyes with a shrug and snapped her fingers to open a portal, which Summer walked out of a second later.

“Thank you Rae,” Summer said nodding to the brunette and tugged on the hem of her hood, “but we’re still in some deep trouble. That Deathstalker isn’t going to be pinned forever; a few minutes at best.”

“Raven’s right you know,” Taiyang added keeping an eye on the Deathstalker, “You are insane. Why do you always _charge_ things like that?!”

“Because I know I can get out of it, and it’s not like you were coming up with a way to stop the fast armored Grimm _Taiyang!_ ” The screech of the Nevermore brought them out of the brewing argument and everyone looked up at the bird circling the clearing.

“That’s coming around for another pass,” Jaune said nervously, “H-how are we going to fight that?”

“I don’t think any of us can,” Pyrrha answered gripping her javelin tightly.

“Which is convenient because we’re not going to,” Summer said crossing her arms. “Nobody on my team can fight it and you all don’t _need_ to fight it at all. You just need to get a relic and leave the forest.”

“So… you’re suggesting we run and live?” Jaune asked hopefully and smiled when Summer nodded. “Yeah, I can live with that. So… did you get a relic?” Jaune asked looking at Pyrrha, who gave him the flattest look she could. “Right… I’ll be right back.”

While Jaune jogged to get a relic from the ruins Summer looked at the other pair of first years and asked, “What about you, did you get what you need?”

“You say something?” Nora asked back, having just finished balancing the Rook on Ren’s head.

“We’re alright,” Ren replied.

“Ok, good to know,” Summer nodded.

“Wait, are we taking them with us?” Qrow asked.

“As opposed to leaving them to the Grimm? I don’t think so; it’s our fault that the Nevermore found them in the first place, and we don’t know if it’ll go after _them_ if it loses us. So we’re going to get them out.”

“Sure thing boss. At the very least they look like they can handle themselves.”

“Got one!” Jaune shouted returning to the group putting something in his pouch.

“…Well, most of them at least.”

“Need I remind you that _you_ didn’t look that impressive when we first met?” Summer asked and waved a hand as she turned to the first years, “Hell, you _still_ don’t look all that impressive.” Qrow could only roll his eyes at the ribbing. “So are you all ready to go?” Summer asked just as the Deathstalker roared and managed to wrench its pincer free with a sickening crunch.

“Yes, it’s about time we left,” Ren nodded.

“Right, my team will lead the way and you all follow behind. Got it?” Everyone nodded and Raven and Qrow started leading the way back at a run, with Taiyang taking the long way around to avoid the Deathstalker. Nora and Ren followed after them (Nora apparently decided Taiyang’s way was the more fun of the two) leaving Summer with a fairly worried Jaune and Pyrrha. “Don’t worry, everything will be alright.”

“Yeah, but this is kind of a lot to take in,” Jaune said, “It’s just our first day after all.”

“Heh, you think this is bad, you should have seen _my_ first day. This is nothing.”

“Um, are you sure you should be helping us?” Pyrrha asked, “The way you were talking earlier it sounded like-“

“I could get in trouble? Maybe, but it’s too late to worry about that now and I don’t care anyway.” Summer grabbed her hood and lifted it over her head, just as a stray gust blew her cloak around behind her, “Just stick close to me and you’ll make it through this. I promise. We better get going now.” Summer nodded to the pair and started running to follow her friends. Jaune and Pyrrha watched her for a moment until Jaune chuckled.

“That was kind of cool,” he said simply and started running. Pyrrha watched Summer for another moment, a tiny bell ringing in her head, and ran after him as well.

* * *

The mad dash through the forest to the cliffs was more or less uneventful, save for the occasional detour the point men of the group had to take to deal with some minor Grimm along the way. Raven couldn’t help but smirk at how Lie Ren could handle himself both with and without his weapons. The two of them slowed down when they reached the last line of trees before the ravine at the bottom of Beacon Cliffs and the towering ruins of an old watch tower jutting out from it.

And then there was the Giant Nevermore perched on the tower.

“That’s not good,” Ren said staring at the Grimm from behind a tree.

“Especially since that’s the closest way up,” Raven added. _‘At least not without me using_ that _to get to the top.’_ Raven thought for a moment before shaking her head and looking at Ren to ask, “I don’t suppose you have some magic bullet Semblance to get past that?”

“…I can mask my emotions from Grimm, making me invisible to them,” Ren answered glancing at Raven and back at the Nevermore, “and I can extend that to another person, but…”

“Too many Grimm and not enough time for it to be a surefire way out for everyone?”

“Yes.”

“Well, good to know at least. We’ll have to find another way then.” The sound of footsteps drew the pair’s attention and they looked back at Qrow and the others ran up to them, the former only sighing when he saw the Nevermore.

“What’s going on?” Summer asked stopping next to Qrow, “why are- oh. Goddammit.”

“There’s… no way past that, is there?” Jaune asked nervously.

“Normally yes, but Raven made sure it could only see out of one eye right now. We might be able to sneak past it if we-“

“Move along the pillars on either side?” Summer stopped short and turned to stare at Jaune along with most everyone else. “I mean, they are the only cover between us and the bridge. If we’re careful and only move when that thing isn’t looking at us, we… might…” Jaune paused when he noticed how everyone was staring at him and rubbed his arm. “…Dumb idea?”

“No actually, that’s what I was going to say. Slow and steady wins the race in this case,” Summer answered with a small smile before turning back to the clearing in front of them. Only Pyrrha noticed the small blush on Jaune’s face after that. “My team will go right, you guys go left, and we’ll move forward in pairs one pillar at a time. That sound good?” Everyone made their own noise of agreement save for Taiyang.

“And what about the Deathstalker?” he asked looking behind him, “We did just… kind of leave it there.”

“If it shows up, we’ll improvise Tai.”

“I hate when she says that,” Tai whispered.

“Come on, let’s go.” Summer waved everyone forward and ran out of the forest, with her team going right and the others going left. Just as discussed they slowly edged toward the bridge pillar by pillar until they were about halfway to the bridge. That’s when they heard a distant rumbling coming from behind them.

“Oh god, please be an earthquake,” Taiyang said quietly, getting a glare from Raven next to him. Still everyone turned to see the Giant Deathstalker crash out of the woods, missing the large half of its pincer as well as both legs that had been pinned earlier. It roared once it saw the group of students and charged as fast as its remaining legs could carry it. “Oh screw that!”

“What he said, run!” Everyone bolted from cover at Jaune’s cry and made a mad sprint for the bridge, where the Nevermore spotted them and started shooting feathers down at them from on top of its perch.

“Nora!” Ren shouted jumping over a feather.

“On it!” the girl shouted back rolling under another feather and pulling her weapon off her waist, unfolding it into a grenade launcher and fired three shots at the Nevermore. One hit a feather in midair, which deflected it away from hitting Qrow, and the last two sailed right to the Grimm’s head, detonating close enough to it that it was forced to take flight.

_‘Well that would have been nice to know beforehand!’_ Summer thought mentally as she jumped the steps down onto the bridge and drew Soleil, switching it to a handgun and aiming down at the Deathstalker just as Pyrrha stopped next to her and aimed her rifle. The two girls opened fire, only really annoying the armored Grimm but stalled it for at least a few seconds for the others to make it to the bridge before following.

“Yes, home free baby!” Taiyang shouted once they were halfway across the bridge, thankful that the Deathstalker wasn’t following them, though that was quickly followed with “Aw fuck!” when he saw the Nevermore dive bomb the bridge and smash it half. The group was thrown in either direction from the attack; Qrow, Jaune, Raven, Taiyang, and Nora on the tower side while Pyrrha, Summer, and Ren were suddenly closer to the Deathstalker than they wanted.

“Oh no,” Jaune said looking across the chasm as their separated friends started fighting with the Deathstalker in a flurry of gunshots and sword strikes. He looked back at Qrow and Nora firing at the retreating Nevermore while Taiyang and Raven watched carefully. “Uh guys, they need help,” he said pointing to the other side.

“Good idea,” Taiyang said narrowing his eyes at the Deathstalker, “why don’t you take care of that! We’ll… hold down the fort!”

“You baby!” Nora chastised and walked over to Jaune, “come on Vomit Boy, let’s take care of this!”

“How did you-?! I mean, I can’t jump that far!” Nora responded by smirking at him and pushing him down before spinning her weapon around to turn it into a hammer and running to the broken half of their bridge. “Oh crap,” Jaune said once realized what Nora was planning just a she dropped the hammer.

“Goddamn armor!” Summer shouted swinging York at the Deathstalker’s damaged pincer, only to get deflected and knocked back just as Ren charged. “Ugh, this is such a mismatched fight!”

“Any ideas?” Pyrrha asked firing a few rounds at the Grimm’s eyes. Summer tapped York against her boot in thought for a moment before sighing.

“It’s underside isn’t armored, but there’s too little room to effectively attack and forget actually _getting_ there. Our best bet would be to get through its armor somehow, but I don’t-“ Summer was suddenly knocked forward by a screaming Jaune, though that was soon overshadowed when Nora zoomed overhead with a shout of ‘Banzai!’ and smashed the Deathstalker in the head with her hammer.

The sudden damage caused the Deathstalker to thrash around and one of its pincers crashed into Summer and knocked her backwards into the ravine. She screamed “You assholes!” just as she twisted in the air and Blinked toward the tower, placing her feet on the stone and Blinking upward again to build some momentum to run up the wall. After a short sprint up she saw the bridge where her team was and jumped off, doing a front flip and landing in a roll next to Qrow.

“The damn thing’s hide is too thick,” Qrow reported and started to reload his weapon, “I landed a couple of shots and it didn’t do anything.”

“And it’s moving too fast for melee, which might just be our only option right now,” Summer concluded looking down at her handgun and over at the first years across the ravine, “And we can’t exactly do _that_ with them here.”

“It’s coming back!” Taiyang shouted pointing at the circling Nevermore that was angling its head at them.

“Oh for- Tai, Raven, get to cover! Qrow and I will do what we can out here!”

“So jack and shit?” Qrow said having finished reloading and aimed at the Nevermore, “Can do.”

“Shut up and shoot.” Qrow shrugged and did just that, opening fire with Summer while Taiyang and Raven ran to take shelter in the ruined watchtower. Most of the shots went wide, though a few managed to hit the Nevermore’s head which caused it to screech and turn to its attackers. Qrow and Summer only managed to get a few more shots off before they dove to the ground when the Nevermore dove at them and crashed through the watchtower.

“Tai, Raven!” Summer called out just as the two ran out of the watchtower, with Taiyang managing to punch one of the smaller pieces of debris that was coming toward them. It cracked and shattered under the force and left Taiyang shaking his hand and the two shot Summer a small glare. “Ok, I didn’t know it would do that, but you’re more than welcome to a punch later.”

“I’ll deck you later,” Raven said turning her glare to the Nevermore, “that prick is really starting to piss me off.”

“You saw that right?” Qrow said picking himself up and pointed at the Grimm, “It turned and dove in the direction of an attack. Our bullets can’t hurt it, but it can definitely feel them.”

“Maybe it’s compensating for its bad eye sight?” Taiyang wondered massaging his forearm.

“Think we can use that Sum?” Summer planted York in the ground point first and watched the Nevermore for a second before looking at what was left of the watchtower, or rather the bridge behind it and the large cliff beyond that.

“Probably,” Summer answered with a nod, “I do have an idea, but that really depends on two things.” She checked to see if her teammates were listening before she continued, “One: How much can Tai lift with his Semblance at full blast?”

“Hey, I managed to lift that Goliath tusk, didn’t I?” Tai said annoyed until Summer gave him a look and his eyes widened. “But yeah,” he continued looking at the Nevermore, “I can lift a lot. Or pull down a lot with the right angle.”

“I’ll give you one. And two: that spinning move you’re so fond of Qrow, how well can you control it?”

“Not very well once I’m going,” Qrow answered tapping the handle of Harbinger, “But like Tai said, the right angle can make all the difference.”

“Then this will work. It’ll require a bit of setup, but we can do this.” Summer sheathed York and ejected the magazine in Soleil and replaced it with the right kind of Dust rounds before handing it over to Raven. “You’ll know what to do Rae,” she said once her partner had taken the gun from her and clapped her hands. “Alright, here’s my plan. First, Qrow needs to get out of sight and-”

* * *

Jaune and company were having similar trouble with the Deathstalker, not at all helped by the continuously crumbling bridge and the fact the only exit was _past_ the Deathstalker. Still, they weren’t doing to bad all things considered. Jaune certainly didn’t let it show, but he was really excited when he managed to block one of the Deathstalker’s pincers without getting knocked on his ass.

At the moment he and Pyrrha were keeping the Grimm’s pincers busy, a block her and a sword swipe there, while Ren had managed to run up and grab onto its stinger and empty an entire magazine to where it connected to the tail. Nora was doing an amazing job lobbing grenades at the Grimm’s face, which may have broken through its armor eventually if it hadn’t lashed out and knocked Jaune and Pyrrha back to guard its face. Pyrrha managed a perfect javelin throw into one of its eyes just as Ren got knocked off into a nearby pillar.

Jaune noticed how loose the glowing stinger was on the tail and felt a flash of inspiration. “Get though it’s armor! Pyrrha!”

“Done!” she shouted and threw her shield at the stinger, hitting it dead on and knocking it point down into its body.

_‘Yes!’_ Jaune mentally cheered just as Pyrrha caught her shield and looked back at Nora and shouted, “Nail it!”

“Heads up!” Nora called and jumped on top of Pyrrha’s ready shield and blasted herself up into the air. The next few second were admittedly a blur for him, though he did realize Nora did indeed ‘nail it’ and drove the stinger into the Deathstalker’s head. Destroying the bridge and sending him and Pyrrha flying through the air was just a side effect that he would forgive her of once he had his senses back and realized he was face first on solid ground, alive, and relatively safe.

“That was fun,” Nora said once Jaune pushed himself into a kneeling position and saw Pyrrha was the only one actually still standing.

_‘Man, she’s tough.’_

“Pyrrha!” Jaune perked up and looked at the direction of the shout, finding Summer on top of a ruined pillar waving her arms. “I need to borrow your rifle! Hurry!”

“O-ok, just a second!” Pyrrha shouted back and quickly turned Miló into a rifle to reload it. Once that was done she did the same spinning throw she did earlier to catch Jaune to throw Miló over to Summer, which embedded itself in the stone of the pillar just under her.

Summer knelt down and yanked Miló out of the stone and changed it into a rifle. _‘Control your breathing,’_ she thought aiming the rifle up and followed the Nevermore as it circled, _‘You’ll only get one chance at this.’_ She waited until it was in the right position, breathed out, and squeezed the trigger. The crack of the rifle was rewarded with the cry of the Nevermore as it turned toward her. Summer kept firing at it, if only to keep it on the right path, and stood up and backed up a little. The closer it got, the further she went, until she was at the edge. Once it was close enough to fly over Jaune’ group Summer leapt backward and fired one more hot before she fell.

Right into one of Raven’s portals which closed behind her.

“Ragh!” Taiyang shouted jumping up and landing an Aura enhanced uppercut right on the Nevermore’s chin and grabbed a feather on its neck, knocking its head up and dragging Taiyang up with it. The glow on his arm grew brighter until it looked like it was on fire and, with one more shout, yanked the Nevermore’s down and threw it down toward the bridge. The bird monster flipped forward and landed on the bridge on its back and continued forward just as Taiyang landed and held his other arm out to Raven.

The Brunette grabbed the hand and planted her feet on a pillar, her other hand ready on her sheath, and braced herself as Taiyang’s arm glowed and he threw her toward the Nevermore with a shout. Raven moved her hand to her sword as she flew and, once the Nevermore had bounced up from its second landing, pulled the trigger and cut off the Grimm’s left wing with one slice and flew past it.

She flipped in midair and pushed as much Aura as she could into her legs as she landed on the cliff wall, which formed a small crater in the wall, and pushed off it with a grunt back toward the Nevermore and sliced off its other wing. She sheathed her sword as she flew past the Nevermore and held a hand out to her side, which Taiyang caught and spun her in a circle a few times to slow her down until she was running alongside him.

“Go, GO!” Taiyang shouted and let Raven go, putting a hand on her back to give her a little push back toward the Nevermore that had crashed against the cliff face and turned to face her. It hopped onto the bridge as Raven pressed a switch on her switch as she ran and, after a number of clicks that she had long ago memorized, let it go and put got ready for another shot. Her eyes narrowed as the Nevermore screeched and lunged at her and she side stepped to the left and fired her sword. The blade, now colored blue from Ice Dust, shot out and hit the Nevermore’s head and shattered into a cloud of Dust. Raven then drew Soleil and skidded to a stop under the Nevermore and fired an Ice round at the Dust cloud, which caused a reaction in the cloud and forced it to solidify into a solid ice crystal trapping the Nevermore.

“Now for step 3,” she whispered and opened a portal to Taiyang and leapt through it the moment she could.

“Why do we have to always be ambitious and over the top?” Qrow wondered as he watched from the cliff top what was going on down on the bridge. “Seriously, every single time.”

“Ambitious works for us,” Summer replied securing Miló to her belt, “It always has in the past at least.”

“Hey, I’m not complaining. Just, you know, casual observation.” The Nevermore’s head got encased in ice and Qrow took a deep breath as the monster struggled to break free. “Guess that’s our cue. You sure about this?”

“Yeah,” Summer answered and held a hand out to Qrow as petals started lifting off of her cloak, “Trust me?” Qrow chuckled and grabbed the hand.

“Always.” Summer returned the smile before they ran and jumped off the cliff. They blinked higher into the air and Qrow started firing behind him to get a spin going. Summer meanwhile focused on where the Nevermore was and charged her Blink one more time as they spun faster and faster. The petals that floated off of her were scattered all around them until Summer finally Blinked toward the Nevermore and threw Qrow toward it at the same time.

Once Qrow felt Summer let him go he hit the switch on Harbinger’s handle turning the sword into a scythe and fired one more time to keep the spin going as he shot toward the Nevermore with a wake of petals behind him. He screamed loudly as he grasped the scythe handle and gave one last attempt at a swing as he passed over it, hooking the blade underneath the Grimm’s neck and letting momentum carry the blade through the neck and decapitate it cleanly. In the split second Qrow could see that he succeeded he angled his body and fired another shot so his scythe blade slammed into the cliff, which left him screaming for a different reason as he stopped spinning and found himself sliding along the wall with the blade leaving a deep trench in the rock.

He couldn’t have been more happy when the blade finally caught and he stopped, even if he nearly lost his grip on the handle. He took several deep breaths as he hung over the ravine and looked up to see how Summer got along.

Not too well as it turned out, since she was now in a free fall and exhausted from using her Semblance so much. She barely had enough in her for one more small Blink and she was sure that wouldn’t be enough this time. Then she saw one of Raven’s portals open up and Taiyang leap out in the same instance, managing to catch her with a small “Gotcha!” The small front flip didn’t help with her orientation, but she was now slow enough to be able to make that Blink, so she grabbed onto Taiyang’s shirt and Blinked down to the bridge where Taiyang managed to stick the landing carrying her bridal style.

They stood like that for a moment until Taiyang set her down on her feet gently and he took a deep breath. “You certainly know how to give us a workout Sum,” he said shaking his arms out and looking back at the Nevermore as its body slowly tilted over and fell off the bridge, leaving its head right where it had been frozen.

“I suppose,” Summer replied with a small laugh and walked over to the edge to look for Qrow. Once she found him standing on Harbinger on the cliff face she touched her fingertips over her head to form a circle, ‘Are you ok?’ being the gestured question. After a moment Qrow made the same gesture, ‘I’m ok,’ and pointed up to the cliff top. Summer dropped her arms for a second before repeating the circle gesture and watched as Qrow pulled Harbinger out of the cliff and start on the long climb up.

Once she saw he was on his way Summer let out a held breath and leaned over to put her hands on her knees. “Holy shit, I can’t believe that worked!”

“Oh, now you tell us that!” Summer looked back at Raven holding Soleil out to her. Summer took it and holstered it and looked back to find Raven smirking at her and holding up both hands. “Put that in the books.” Summer smiled and held her hands out palm up for Raven to slam her down on, repeating the reverse afterwards and finishing with a double fist slam.

“It’s history now!” Summer finished along with a shout and jump of joy. “Oh right!” she said once she remembered the first years and jogged over to the watchtower. Once she got close enough to see the first years and called out to them, “Hey, are you guys ok?”

* * *

‘Ok’ would turn out to be an understatement for the four of them, as would ‘utterly speechless’. Once they had managed to process what happened and realized Summer was calling to them, they finally managed to pick their jaws off the floor.

“Wow,” was all Jaune could say to properly articulate his thoughts.

“You can say that again,” Ren said calmly, though only Nora could tell there was any difference in his demeanor.

“Wow,” Nora answered one finger away from dropping her weapon to the ground.

“…Thank you Nora.”

“Wait… are they really…?” Pyrrha whispered and Jaune looked over to see her counting her fingers. “Summer Rose, Taiyang Xiao Long, Raven and Qrow Branwen… how do you spell Qrow’s name?”

“With a Q,” Nora answered.

“Oh ok… wait, how do you know that? Did you ask him?” Pyrrha turned to Nora, only to see the shorter girl shrug.

“Well, they’re Team STRQ, so that only makes sense for his name to have a Q. Right Ren?”

“Oh, that’s what that is,” Ren answered with a nod, “I was wondering why they seemed familiar. You’re right Nora.”

“Team St- _the_ Team STRQ?! A-are you serious?!” Pyrrha tried to control her breathing and failed.

“Unless there’s another Team STRQ here, which I’m pretty sure there isn’t, yeah I am serious.” There was a small crack and Jaune saw Pyrrha’s javelin land point first about a foot in front of her. “Oh look, she gave you your weapon back!”

“We… we…” Pyrrha muttered looking back at Jaune, her pupils narrowed to a dangerous degree.

“Don’t look at me, I don’t know who they are,” Jaune said holding his hands up. Pyrrha looked between Jaune’s confused face, Nora’s happy one, and where Summer was standing until the reality finally set in for her. She could only shout one thing in response.

“WE’RE GOING TO THE SAME SCHOOL AS TEAM STRQ?!”

Summer stared at the group as Pyrrha’s shout echoed through the air and turned back to Raven and Taiyang. “I think they’ll be alright,” she said gesturing back to them.

“Yeah, I think so too,” Taiyang agreed and watched Pyrrha either have a major geek out or a panic attack on the other side of the ravine. “So what are we going to do about them? Do you… want to bring them over?”

“Normally I would say yes, but they are still in the middle of their initiation. They have to get to the top of the cliffs by themselves and, as good upperclassmen to them, it would be improper for us to help them accomplish this important task. They need to learn how to do things for themselves.”

“And the Nevermore?” Raven asked crossing her arms behind her head.

“That was our fault they got involved in that. It was up to us to get them out of that jam and now they’re out of it,” Summer said motioning back to where the Nevermore used to be. “We might already be in trouble for helping them this much, why make it worse?”

“That makes sense to me.”

“And what’s the real reason for this attitude?” Taiyang asked.

“I may still me _ever so slightly_ salty about them knocking me off the cliff earlier,” Summer admitted making a small pinch with her fingers.

“There it is,” Taiyang sighed and shrugged, “Well whatever, I can’t exactly argue with your other points.” Suddenly a scroll beeped and Raven pulled hers out and opened it.

“Well that’s good timing, Qrow just reached the top. Time to go then?” Summer nodded and Raven put her scroll away and snapped her fingers to open a portal and walked though it with Taiyang right behind her.

Summer walked over to the portal and turned around to shout “Sorry!” to Jaune’s group before going through the portal.

“They just left us down here didn’t they?” Jaune asked the obvious question looking flatly at where Summer used to be standing as the portal closed.

“Yep,” Nora answered popping the p.

“Well, I can understand. We are still in the middle of initiation,” Ren said pointing at the tops of the cliffs. “We’ll only be done once we’re at the top of those cliffs.”

“So, we’re somehow have to get across the broken bridge over a sheer drop and up a cliff that’s easily a hundred feet at least, and they’re not going to help us at all,” Jaune summed up.

“Yep,” Nora answered again.

“Huh, what are we doing?” Pyrrha asked having come out of ‘geek out’ mode.

“Trying to get up the cliffs.”

“Oh… ok.” The group was quiet for a moment until Jaune looked at Nora.

“Hey Nora, you seem pretty strong. How much can you lift?” he asked, to which Nora grinned widely.

* * *

Qrow had just sent the message to Raven and waited for the portal to open up, which it did after a couple of seconds and waved at his team as they stepped through. “Hey, are you guy’s ok?” he asked before flinching back when Summer leapt at him and dragged him down a little with her arms around his neck.

“Qrow, you absolute badass! That was amazing!” Summer shouted and hugged Qrow tighter. “I won’t bring up that sniper scythe thing again after that!”

“Yeah, great job man!” Taiyang said wrapping an arm around Qrow’s shoulders. “You finally got some bragging rights of our own.”

“Alright, that’s enough of that,” Qrow pushed Taiyang and Summer off of him, which left him open to a playful punch from Raven.

“I knew you had it in you,” she said with a smirk.

“Ok, seriously, all the praise is going to go to my head.” Qrow rubbed the back of his neck and looked around a little and asked, “You didn’t bring the kids with you?”

“Summer’s mad at them, so-“

“SHUT UP RAVEN!” Raven couldn’t help but chuckle at Summer’s shout and watched the smaller girl clear her throat and add, “What she means to say is they don’t need our help. I think they managed to kill that Deathstalker on their own, so they can climb a cliff easy. I wouldn’t worry about them.”

“Ahem!” All four members of Team STRQ froze at the _very_ familiar voice clearing her throat and turned to find an irate Glynda Goodwitch watching them with her arms crossed and Professor Ozpin standing behind her with his usual smile.

“Oh crap,” Summer whispered and walked toward them, her team behind her. “I can explain.”

“Don’t,” Glynda said, the four students flinching back at her tone, and she sighed before continuing. “Professor Ozpin explained why you four might be out here at this time. If it’s true then… as much as I would hate to admit it, I would have done the same thing.”

STRQ was quiet for a moment, taking the statement in, until Raven held a finger up and asked, “So… we’re _not_ in trouble?”

“Not in any way that would require further punishment,” Ozpin said, his smile widening just a little when the students all sighed in relief, and gestured at Summer with his mug. “So what did you find?”

“Well, from what we could tell,” Summer started crossing her arms, “that Grimm from last night left the forest just after I got away from it. And… you already knew that, didn’t you?”

“Since this morning yes.”

“And why you didn’t tell us?” Raven asked throwing her hand up. “That would have saved us a lot of trouble!”

“Would you have _not_ gone in there if I _had_ told you?” Ozpin asked taking a quick sip of coffee.

“Well, no,” Summer answered tugging on her hood, “I would have wanted to make sure for myself anyway.”

“Quite. Though I will admit I didn’t expect that Nevermore to cause you so much problems.”

“It’s behavior has been bothering me too. I’ve never seen giant Grimm get so close to the Defense Grid before and… it seemed focused on getting me specifically. I’m not sure about that though,” Summer crossed her arms again and looked Ozpin right in the eye. “Does this have to do with what happened last night? Just what the hell’s going on?”

“I told you I’d explain that later, and that hasn’t changed.” Ozpin was interrupted by a sudden scream and everyone was treated to the sight of Jaune being launched over the cliff edge and face planting on the ground, followed by Ren then Pyrrha landing in a crouch and lastly Nora, who gave a little ‘ta-da’ when she landed.

“But that’s a discussion for later. Come to my office after team placements and we’ll have that talk.” STRQ nodded in response, which Ozpin returned, “Then you’re dismissed. And this time, actually get some rest.”

“You don’t have to tell us twice, I’m beat.” Raven said with a wave and led the way back to the academy.

Ozpin watched them for a moment before he turned his attention to the first years, Pyrrha picking Jaune up from the ground. “Well, congratulations to the four of you for making it back in one piece.”

“Er, thank you sir,” Jaune said nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

“Your relics, please?” Glynda said having taken her scroll out. Jaune jumped a little and dug around his pouch for the relic before pulling it out and showing it while Nora somehow kicked hers into the air and caught it spinning on her index finger. “Both White Rooks,” Glynda muttered and noted them down in her scroll while both Jaune and Nora put the relics away, “interesting. In any case congratulations to all of you, you’ll get your team placements at-“

“Um…” Pyrrha quietly interrupted rubbing her arms.

“Yes?”

“Summer and the others… they’re not in trouble for helping us, are they?”

“No they’re not,” Ozpin reassured, “and even if they were, you shouldn’t worry yourselves too much over it.”

“But if they _are_ in trouble, it would have been our fault!”

“No, it wouldn’t. It would have been their own fault,” Glynda said with a sigh, “It wouldn’t be the first time either. Team STRQ are persistent troublemakers, but even I can tell they usually have their hearts in the right place. _Usually._ ” Glynda shook her head and deliberately ignored how Pyrrha seemed to be shaking in favor of tapping her Scroll. “As I was saying, your team placements will take place at 7 o’clock tonight. You have the rest of the day free until then, so I would suggest you use that time to get to know your partner.”

“Can do! Come on Ren!” Nora said and started skipping away while Ren walked behind her with a small smile.

“Ok, I can do that. Come on Pyrrha,” Jaune tugged on Pyrrha’s arm and started walking back to the academy, with the redhead giving a small ‘What? Ok,’ in response. Ozpin hummed to himself as the four walked away, taking a sip of his coffee and getting lost in thought as he and Glynda continued walking along the cliff face.

* * *

Ruby was furious beyond all belief, and worse is that she had nobody to blame but herself. She had grown frustrated with the White Huntress’ refusal to _simply die_ and pushed the Nevermore into making rash moves. She had thought it could pull it back after losing its wings, but getting caught in an Ice Dust cloud sealed that deal and she let the core go to leave the Grimm to its fate. She stewed in her anger for a few seconds until the core cracked and shattered when the Nevermore died, which was when Ruby let out her rage in a loud roar as she forced herself to return to her body.

That turned out to be quite the shock for everyone in the throne room; Salem was quietly waiting for Ruby to return from her excursion along with Blake while Weiss and Yang had gotten into an argument about wood or something that she couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to. This relative silence was brought to a violent end when Ruby suddenly roared out loud and knocked the Seer’s tendrils away from.

“THAT LITTLE WRETCH!” she roared standing up and bringing both of her fists down on the table, smashing a piece of the crystal clean off of it.

“Whoa!” Yang shouted jumping up along with Weiss and Blake as Ruby turned around and kicked the chair she was sitting in back into a wall, nearly crushing the Seer she had just been using. Then she found herself tackled to the ground and straddled by Yang, who was trying to get a hold of her arms. “Ruby, calm down! Chill!” Yang shouted just before she got punched in the face and knocked back enough for Ruby to get her legs under her and kick her away.

That advantage didn’t last long once Ruby saw a red glyph appear around her legs and wrists which shrank forcing them together just as Blake leapt over the table and planted a wooden sandal on her neck. Ruby thrashed under the Faunus Grimm and glared at Weiss on the table as she held both of her hands forward.

“We’ll let you go once you’re calm, so _calm down!_ ” Weiss said, which only made Ruby fight all the harder. It was only when Salem calmly walked into view and looked down at her that she realized just _what_ she had been doing and stopped to focus on breathing.

“It didn’t go well, did it?” Salem asked, her usual calmness still very much intact despite the chaos.

“…No, it didn’t,” Ruby answered and took one more breath and looked at Weiss, “I’m calm now, I just lost myself for a moment.” Weiss watched Ruby for a moment and quietly broke the glyphs when Ruby didn’t make a move. She hopped off the table as Blake stepped off of Ruby, letting her sit up and rub the spot that she had stepped on.

“What happened?” Salem asked as Ruby pushed herself onto her feet.

“I… underestimated that Huntress,” she said rubbing her left wrist.

“I thought you dropped her off a cliff!” Yang said rubbing her cheek, “You telling me she survived that?!”

“She’s a clever one, her and her whole team. I sent a Giant Nevermore after them and a Giant Deathstalker managed to find them too. Not only did they survive, but they managed to cripple and kill the Nevermore despite the range disadvantage.” Ruby sighed and turned Salem and added, “Vale just became slightly harder to crack.”

“Oh Ruby,” Salem said taking a step forward and pressing a hand on Ruby’s cheek, rubbing a thumb down her face, “ _one_ particularly skilled Huntsman or team won’t make a difference for our plans.” Salem took her hand back and slowly walked back to her seat and sat down. “Still, it is intriguing. If they come up on our radar again, we may have to take action. But _only_ if they do, understood.”

“Yes Queen,” the Generals said simultaneously, with Yang asking, “What do we do now?”

“Prepare. Weiss and Yang will continue with their old orders until further notice.” The two nodded and Salem turned to Blake, “And Blake should focus getting a better foothold for the White Fang in Vale.”

“It will be done,” Blake said just as someone knocked on the door into the room.

“Enter,” Salem ordered and the doors were pushed open so a trio, two women and a man, walked in. The woman in front, a black haired woman with yellow eyes in a short red dress, walked to the end of the table and gave a small bow to Salem.

“Leave it to you to show up at the _end_ of the meeting Cinder,” Ruby said turning to the new arrivals.

“By your pardon _General,_ ” Cinder said giving Ruby the smallest of glares, “but I’ve been busy getting events in Vale moving.” Cinder held her hand out and the man, a gray haired youth wearing a similarly colored ensemble, stepped forward to give her a small briefcase. “And, of course, getting what we need for my training.” Cinder set the briefcase down, unlatched it, and opened it to take out a vial and a crystal of Fire Dust and held it up.

“Excellent,” Salem nodded and stood up, “then you’ll resume your training today. Ruby, I leave her in your hands.”

“Of course Queen,” Ruby said with a small bow.

“You’re all dismissed.” Salem turned and walked to one of the windows lining the room as everyone else started filing out; Weiss and Blake left silently with Yang behind them rolling the shoulder of her Grimm arm. When they were gone Ruby walked up to Cinder and took the crystal and vial from her hand and put them back in the briefcase.

“Come Cinder,” Ruby said shutting the briefcase and picking it up, “we have a lot of work ahead of us. And if your pets can behave themselves,” she glanced Cinder’s companions, who glared back as much as they dared, “they can watch too.” Ruby walked out of the room, not noticing the way Cinder clenched a fist before following after her.

“This will be an interesting year,” Salem said once she was by herself.

* * *

The day passed all too quickly for the members of Team STRQ and, despite everyone’s objections, Summer insisted on being there to see the first year’s team placements. So, after a short nap and a quick dinner, they went to the assembly hall meeting up with Team CFVY on the balcony closest to the stage. Naturally they wanted to know what their ‘rival’ team had been up to all day, so Summer had been regaling them with the events of the day.

“After Raven had frozen it with Ice Dust I threw Qrow at it so he could cut its head off. He totally nailed it and climbed up the cliff afterward so we could get out. That was our misadventure of the day.”

“Never a slow day for you guys huh?” Coco said edging her sunglasses down, “You guys really need to learn to take it easy someday.”

“We always try and it never works,” Raven said yawning slightly as she leaned against the railing with Summer. “God I want to crash later.”

“Don’t get too excited, we still have that bet to settle you know.” The members of STRQ sagged a little at that and looked at Velvet, who was sitting next to Coco with her back to the railing working hard at a pad of papers on her lap.

“So how is that going Vel?” Taiyang asked leaning over from where he was standing to watch the rabbit Faunus.

“I’m almost done,” she answered tilting her head and scratching out a few more numbers, “This is the fifth time I’ve had to crunch these out, and I _think_ I’ve got them all right every time.”

“Well that doesn’t bode well for us,” Raven said with a sigh, “And I take it you’re not going to count the Nevermore for us?”

“No.”

“Welp, had to try.” Raven leaned forward and shook her head at the latest team formed, “And would you look at that, it’s the cutout.”

“Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark. The four of you collected the Black Bishop pieces. From now on the four of you will be known as Team CRDL, led by Cardin Winchester.”

“Hey Qrow, what was your bet from the other day?” Raven asked as the newly formed Team CRDL walked off the stage.

“500 Lien for six months,” Qrow answered.

“Take that to 1000 and you got a bet,” Summer said shaking her head, “they did _not_ make good impression when I met them earlier.”

“Deal.”

“I’ll get in on that,” Raven added.

“And finally…” Ozpin said as the last team of first years walked on stage and lined up, which Summer perked up and leaned over the railing slightly to get a better view.

“Hey look, Jaune and the others! They got on the same team!”

“So it would seem,” Qrow agreed.

“Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, and Nora Valkyrie. The four of you collected the White Rook pieces. From now on, the four of you will be known as Team JNPR, led by Jaune Arc.”

“What?! L-led by?” Jaune asked looking slightly worried and gestured at himself.

“Congratulations,” Ozpin said simply with a nod. Pyrrha didn’t bother to hid her joy and gave Jaune a playful punch, forgetting how strong she actually is and accidentally knocked the blonde right off his feet to the scattered chuckles of the assembly hall. “Well, this will certainly be an interesting year. You’ll all have gotten your dorm assignments sent to your scrolls by now. You’ll find all your belongings there as well. You’re all dismissed… and have a great day of classes tomorrow.”

“I knew it,” Summer said with a smile as Ozpin left the stage and the new teams started filtering out of the hall, her eyes locked on Jaune as he picked himself up and followed his team out.

“Don’t tell me you had _him_ pegged as leader material,” Raven asked glancing at Summer, Coco doing the same on the other side of the cloaked girl.

“Gut feeling Rae. It’s hardly ever wrong.” Summer pushed off the railing and stretched her arms over her head just as Velvet hopped up and held up her paper pad.

“I’m done!” Velvet said triumphantly and deflating a little as she lowered the papers, her ears folding down a little. “And… it’s the exact same outcome as every other time I’ve done it. So it has to be right.”

“Well don’t keep us in suspense, tell us!” a cheerful voice said behind them, causing CFVY and STRQ to jump in surprise and turn at Maribelle, cheerfully bouncing and smiling at Velvet.

“WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?!” Raven shouted pointing at the sheep Faunus.

“I’ve got a sixth sense when it comes to bets between Beacon’s Gold and Silver teams,” Maribelle replied simply and clenched her hands in front of her as she continued bouncing. “Come on, tell us who won! Will Team STRQ’s conquest continue, or will Team CFVY hold firm and resolute! The gossip circles are going to _love_ this!”

“Don’t get too excited,” Velvet said with a sigh and turned the pad around for everyone, “We tied.” The assembled group was silent for an uncomfortable few seconds before they all exploded.

“A TIE?! WHAT?!” They scrambled forward to get a look at the pad, which contained the math, ramblings, and scribblings of a mad woman that, at the bottom, somehow did end in a dead tie. Coco then continued with, “How is that possible?! I demand a recount!”

“This is the _fifth time_ I’ve done a recount and it’s been the same every time!” Velvet defended and moved the papers behind her to scratch her cheek. “Though to be fair Coco, we would have won by a slim margin if it weren’t for Summer’s close call with a ‘nasty Grimm’ as she puts it. How bad _was_ it anyway?”

“Huh? Oh, I had to throw myself off a cliff to get away from it,” Summer answered, “And it was right on my tail the whole time before that.”

“…Yeah, that definitely deserves a large Grimm kill credit.”

“A stalemate? Boo, nobody will want to hear about that,” Maribelle complained from behind the group.

“Nobody asked you!”

“Oh this is such bullshit!” Raven said face palming, “what are we supposed to do with that?!”

“Well _I’ll_ take it as a moral victory,” Summer said twirling a bit of hair around a finger, “a sign of improvement if you will.”

“Huh?”

“Well, CFVY has always been better than us at straight up combat when you get down to it. This shows that the field is evening out. And for _you,”_ Summer pointed at Coco, “that can be incentive to keep that gap up, since you care about that.”

“…I really hate how much sense that makes. So what are we going to do about the party?”

“We’ll split it: you guys pay for yours and we pay for ours. After the last few days I’ve had I’m _not_ giving up on pizza tonight.”

“Ok, at least we all get _something_ out of it. Are you cool with ordering Yatsuhashi?” Coco glanced back at her large teammate, who nodded.

“Aw, I wish I had known pizza was on the line,” Maribelle commented scratching her cheek, “I would have wanted to be a part of that.”

“We _would_ have included you, but we wanted it to be fair,” Raven said with a smirk, “Or would you have rather you guys pay for all of us?”

“Hey, my team did great last night. I think we would have had a fighting chance.”

“Every time I saw you last night you were holding onto a Grimm for dear life, and you call that ‘great’?” Raven asked to which Maribelle nodded. “Fine, then what was your kill count?”

“25 Beowolves, 15 Ursai, 7 Boarbatusk, and a Beringal. And that was all just me, the rest of my team probably did far better since… you know, they’re competent fighters.”

“…I’m sorry, a _Beringal?_ ”

“I know, I was surprised when I saw it too! Not as surprised as _he_ was when I shoved my crook in his eye and scrambled his brains like an egg.” Maribelle then gave a small chuckle of joy at the memory, which unnerved everyone else around her. “Well that aside, I got gossip to spread about you all. Have fun with your party.”

“Thanks,” Coco said before she stood up straight and said, “hold on a second! Which one of us is the Silver team?!”

“Uh…” Maribelle stood petrified for a minute before wisely deciding to bolt as fast as she could, though Coco ran after her shouting “Get back here!”

“Well…” Qrow started just as his scroll beeped and he pulled it out to check it. “Oh crap, we still have that thing with Ozpin.”

“Oh, right,” Summer said with a sigh and turned to Velvet. “We have to get going. We’ll text you our order and pay you guys back, ok Vel?”

“Uh… ok, but is something wrong?” Velvet asked tilting her head, “I thought you said you weren’t in trouble earlier.”

“I guess we’ll find out for sure. Let’s meet up in our room later, ok?” Velvet nodded and Summer turned to lead her team out. “Well, let’s go see what Professor Ozpin has to say.”


	8. The End of a Long Day

It was late at night, a little after nine o’clock, when CFVY started to make their way to Team STRQ’s dorm with pizza. Yatsuhashi was carrying the lion’s share, though the others were carrying some as well. Velvet, who was leading the way, glanced back at Coco as they turned the last corner to STRQ’s dorm.

“So we’re sure that they’re there?” she asked adjusting the grip on her boxes.

“They did text us so they should be done,” Coco said with a shrug, “But you know how they get. Whenever they meet with Professor Ozpin they seem to be gone for hours.”

“Yeah…” Velvet sighed and stopped in front of STRQ’s door, stared for a second, and looked back at her team. “Um…”

 _“I got it,”_ Fox said telepathically and moved to the front, smoothly shifting his boxes to one hand and knocked on the door with his free one. A couple seconds later the door opened a peek and Taiyang peeked out, already dressed in a white tank top and pajama bottoms, and opened the door fully with a grin.

“Hey guys, perfect timing! I got those Fox,” Taiyang said moving to take the pizzas from Fox, who nodded his thanks and followed Taiyang inside with the rest of CFVY. “We were wondering if you got our text.”

“We did, but there was a lot of pizza,” Coco said glancing at a certain Faunus. “Velvet…”

“Don’t pin all of this on me!” Velvet said setting her stack of boxes on a table next to the stack Tai had, “We were all hungry! And it’s not like I’m the only one that can eat a lot in our group.”

“I love a good meat lovers,” Raven said from her bed, dressed in a black robe with red highlights and was busy running her fingers through her hair. “You have plenty of those right?”

“If they know you, undoubtedly,” Qrow said, still wearing the same clothes that he had been wearing all day sans shoes, and looked away from his Scroll at Coco. “Hey, did you…?”

“We double and triple checked everything Qrow,” Coco said leaning against a table, “So no worries.” Qrow silently shut his Scroll and got up to get some food. Coco scanned the room and found they were missing one member. “Hey, where’s Summer?”

“Present,” a familiar voice called out from the top of the bunk bed along with a raised hand that just as quickly dropped. Coco moved over to the bunk bed and jumped up to get a look, holding herself up with only her arms.

And almost immediately had to hold back a laugh and was glad that she wore her sunglasses so late.

“What?” Summer asked glaring at Coco, already knowing that she was taking in her rarely seen pajamas. It was just a simple tank top and pajama bottom combo, colored black and white respectively. The fact that they were both decorated with cartoon Corgis should not have been all that notable.

Obviously not.

“Nice pajamas,” Coco said not bothering to hide her wide grin and laugh, and got a pillow shoved into her face for her troubles. She fell to the floor and laughed all the harder as Summer peeked over the edge down at her.

“Shut up! If you’re going to just make fun of me all night, then you can-“

“Sorry, sorry,” Coco said moving the pillow off her face and pushing herself up. She took off her glasses and looked back up to Summer before adding, “It’s just… I’ve never seen you in pajamas before. You always wore your cloak everywhere. They’re actually kind of cute.” Coco got another pillow thrown at her for that, which only made her laugh louder.

“Um…” Fox started turning his head toward the commotion with an open pizza box in hand.

“Summer’s pajamas have cute dogs on them,” Velvet explained quietly. Fox, after a second to take that in, doubled over quietly in laughter which only drew more of Summer’s ire.

“Qrow, throw pillows at them! I’m out up here!” Summer commanded pointing at the offenders.

“No pillow fights so early!” Taiyang said picking up one of the pillows Summer threw and looked up at his leader. “Come get some pizza Summer. You’ve got to be hungry after today.” Summer sighed and held up a hand, which effortlessly caught the pillow Taiyang threw up to her.

“Maybe later,” Summer said putting the pillow in place and laying her head on it. The room got quiet as everyone glanced at each other before Coco stood up and jumped back up to look at Summer staring at the ceiling.

“What’s up? I thought you guys said you weren’t going to get in trouble?”

“Oh, we aren’t,” Summer said shaking her head slightly, “It’s just… that meeting lasted forever and… it was still kind of heavy.”

“Want to talk about it? We’re all willing to listen.” Coco asked glancing back at her team, who all silently nodded.

“Classified,” was all Summer answered.

“Of course it is,” Coco glowered and dropped down to the floor. She shook her head as she moved to get some pizza. “Fine, keep your secrets.”

 _‘I’m sorry,’_ Summer thought closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, _‘but some secrets are better kept as just that: secret.’_ Someone cleared their throat next to her and Summer looked in time to see Velvet silently set a plate of pepperoni pizza on her bed. “Thanks Vel,” she said, which got a smile from the rabbit Faunus as she dropped out of sight and left Summer to her thoughts.

* * *

**(Two hours ago, in Ozpin’s office)**

“I’m still not sure this is the wisest move, Professor Ozpin,” Glynda said pacing in front of Ozpin’s desk. They had just sent the meeting message to STRQ and were now just waiting for them to show up. “Team STRQ has always been overly impulsive, especially Raven Branwen. Who knows what they’ll do with this information.”

“But we do know what they’ll do if we withhold this information from them,” Ozpin said tapping the table. “They already put themselves in danger trying to get information on their own. It wasn’t as close as it was with Autumn, but it was still too close for comfort.”

“Yes, I’ve seen every angle of what happened in the Emerald Forest too, but I still-“ Glynda stopped when a message on Ozpin’s desk flashed and the elevator behind them dinged.

“Come in,” Ozpin called and stood up from his desk. The elevator doors opened and Summer walked out, followed by Taiyang Qrow and Raven. Raven kept her eyes on the doors they just came out of until they closed and turned her attention to Ozpin and Glynda, the former walking around his desk to meet them.

 _‘I hate that smile,’_ Raven thought clenching her hands behind her back and took a breath to calm herself. _‘Easy Raven, you’ll get answers soon enough, one way or another.’_

“Thank you for sparing the time to come here,” Ozpin said reaching out a hand which was taken by Summer for a quick shake, “Although I’m sure you would have shown up by yourselves anyway, like last time.”

“Right,” Summer said with a small flinch at the memory. “Well, at least we don’t have weapons this time right? So, onto business then?”

“Before we go to that, there’s one thing I need to be clear about,” Ozpin said leaning against his desk and ignored Raven’s growl of frustration.

“Raven, shut up!” Qrow whispered to his sister.

“Relax Ms. Branwen, this does have to do with why you’re here.” Ozpin took a deep breath and looked at summer, his whole demeanor turning serious. “That Grimm you saw last night, do you remember anything else about it? We already know it was fast, dangerous, intelligent, and… looked like a woman. Is there anything else?”

“Well,” Summer closed her eyes as she racked her brain for anything else. “It wore clothing, a combat dress of some kind from what I can remember. It had short hair, a bit shorter than mine, and it used a scythe as a weapon.”

“A scythe?!” Glynda said looking at Ozpin, who sighed quietly.

“Yes, and its eyes were weird too. Its iris’ were red and everything else was black, like a human’s eyes gone wrong.”

“That’s not the only time we’ve ever seen those eyes too,” Raven added crossing her arms in front of her. “That Nevermore that attacked us had the same kind of eyes, along with a Beowolf we ran into as well. I killed the Beowolf before it could do anything, but that Nevermore was a pain in the ass and way more aggressive than it should have been.”

“It landed just to try and kill Summer,” Qrow said scratching his chin, “and I don’t know how they would usually behave, but it should have ran away once it was almost blinded. Instead the thing fought to the death.”

“I see,” Ozpin nodded and pushed himself away from the desk and asked, “Is that all?”

“Yes, that’s all I can remember and what the other’s noticed,” Summer said motioning back to her team. “So what’s going on, really?”

“What’s ‘going on’ is that you are very lucky to be alive Summer. And I mean that with no hyperbole, you _should_ be dead right now.”

“O-ok…” Summer took a step back and watched as Ozpin moved around his desk and sat down in his chair. He took out his scroll and placed it on his desktop, which opened up a holographic window that Ozpin started working on.

“The Grimm that you encountered is an… unfortunate echo from The Great War,” Ozpin explained and looked every member of STRQ in the eye. “I hope I don’t have to remind you what _that_ is.”

“Yeah, the war that was fought between Vale, Vacuo, Mistral, and Mantle 80 years ago,” Summer said with a sad sigh, “so much bloodshed over something we _all_ should want. Everyone wants to be safe from the Grimm.”

“Indeed, but what mattered was the method. In any case, the world was plunged into war and all of its negativity. All that sorrow, anger, hate, all felt and exerted at once. Battles alone draw the Grimm, so what would a war draw in?”

“Well, since we’re here, I guess a new Grimm type?” Taiyang asked carefully.

“Close; it _created_ a new Grimm type.” Ozpin gave one last tap on his holographic keyboard, which brought up an image of four cards with a stylized back. “The exact method of how the Creatures of Grimm are made is still unknown, but we do believe it has something to do with negative emotions. The stronger the emotion, the stronger the Grimm. So it’s not farfetched that a war that spanned the entire world managed to create four powerful Grimm.”

“They all share similar characteristics,” Glynda said adjusting her glasses, “They’re all aggressive, intelligent, and have the unique ability to directly command other Creatures of Grimm to utilize advanced strategies they normally wouldn’t be capable of. And, like Summer noticed, all four of them are humanoid, specifically looking like young women.”

“We call them the Generals of Grimm.” Ozpin pressed a button and the card on the far left from where STRQ was standing spun around, revealing a stylized drawing of a skeleton on top of a black horse with the number ‘XIII’ above the drawing.

“Tarot cards?” Raven asked moving closer to the desk.

“There’s only so many pieces in chess,” Ozpin explained with a small shake of his head, “and these four need the distinction.”

“From the description you gave us,” Glynda started explaining and motioned at the cards, “and from previous encounters with the Generals we’ve managed to document, we think that the General you encountered last night was Death.”

“That’s… a nice moniker,” Summer said her eyes glued to the card.

“We believe that Death is their leader,” Ozpin said standing up, “And most likely the strongest over all. We’ve seen the aftermath of encounters with it, but never any eyewitness accounts. You, Summer, may be the first person to _ever_ survive a close encounter with it.”

“Ever?”

“Yes. Every one of the Generals has led attacks against villages and towns outside of the Kingdoms, always with a horde of Grimm at their backs and usually with no survivors.”

“And they work for Salem,” Raven said clenching a fist. _‘So… that means…’_

“Yes, it would be safe to assume she would want such dangerous creatures on her side. The Generals are naturally secretive and only show up when they’re certain they will be victorious and won’t be discovered. A sighting in any capacity is a rarity, and they know that lack of information for us is an advantage for them.”

“So… what do we know?”

“Unfortunately, very little. What Summer told us might be the best description of Death we’ve ever had. It attacks villages from time to time, but always with this controlled ferocity. Every village is slain to the man, sometimes less than that. We think that any that go missing during attacks have been taken for some reason, but no one really knows. It’s almost like it’s hunting for something, but there hasn’t been any attacks attributed to it in years.”

“Why would it use a weapon though? As deadly as it is with it, it doesn’t make sense even for intelligent Grimm.” Ozpin could only look down at his desk silently at Summer’s question, which answered it far better than he could have otherwise. “Okay then, different question; what do we know about the rest?”

“In terms of the ones we know the least to most, we’ll start with the Moon.” Glynda tapped the desk and flipped over the next card, which showed a stylization of the Shattered Moon with two Beowolves howling at it labeled with the number ‘XVIII’ and ‘Moon’. Glynda continued with, “Like the card its based on, we know almost nothing about Moon. What we _do_ know is that it seems to base itself mostly in Atlas.”

“…And?” Qrow asked when Glynda didn’t continue for a moment.

“And… that’s it.”

“What, how can you know nothing?!”

“Because it doesn’t show itself like the others, at least not in the open. It’s very hands off in how it operates, and if it _had_ attacked a settlement then it either worked with one of the other Generals, or did it in a way that it looked like it was one of the others. We simply don’t know.”

“The only reason we _do_ know it frequents Atlas is because cults based around it spring up constantly in the Kingdom. If they get too big they end up disrupting the normal way of live, so the Atlas Military spends a good chunk of its time and budget quashing them. More always spring up though. They don’t even know how many people are involved in them, or how far up the societal ladder they go.”

“It’s… trying to subvert the foundations of Atlas from the inside, using its own people,” Summer surmised with a shiver. “All without having to lift a finger. That’s… devious. And awful.”

“That’s putting it lightly,” Qrow whispered and said louder, “Do we even know what it looks like?”

“We have a rough caricature,” Ozpin explained with a shake of his head, “but it’s based off of idols that the cults keep for worship. So we can’t really use those as a definitive look.”

“Perfect.”

“And number three?” Taiyang asked pointing at the third card.

“The Hierophant,” Ozpin said turning the card over, labeled ‘Hierophant’ with the number ‘V’. Summer and the others backed up a step at the sight of the card’s face, which showed a Faunus woman in a ragged black and red kimono and wooden sandals. Her skin was a ghastly white contrasted by her black hair with similarly colored cat ears coming up, her eyes were black and red, she wore a mask over her mouth decorated with sharp teeth, and her arms were replaced with long tendrils that ended in sharp points that were crossed in front of her.

“Unlike with Moon we actually do know what the Hierophant looks like, and you’re seeing it right now.”

“Ugly bitch,” Raven commented taking a step back toward the desk, “So how are you so certain about this one?”

“Because it also has a religious following like Moon. Have you ever heard of Kuroshara, the guardian deity of Menagerie?”

“Only from stories and the occasional report about the White Fang,” Summer answered, “You don’t mean…?”

“Yes, we believe that Kuroshara and the Hierophant are one and the same. Although most Faunus seem to regard Kuroshara as nothing more than a myth and a religious icon, the White Fang seem to think otherwise.”

“It has an interest in the White Fang?” Qrow asked.

“Sometimes members manage to successfully defect from the organization, and those defectors have reported seeing a creature similar to the Hierophant in their bases and on missions, though they won’t go into further detail. Some of the more violent attacks attributed to the White Fang, such as that attack on the Schnee Dust Company train a couple months ago, may have been the result of the Hierophant being involved. And recently it seems certain species of Faunus are being held in higher regard than others because of its presence; cats and black cats especially. Possibly in regards to its supposed species based on idols and sightings, but we don’t know the reason behind it.”

“So many damn secrets. These things piss me off,” Raven growled and looked at the last card. “So… the last one is…”

“Strength,” Ozpin said spinning the card around, showing a picture of a woman wrestling an Ursa to the ground labeled ‘Strength’ and ‘VIII’. Ozpin sat down and added, “But I don’t think I need to go into much detail about this one.”

“WHY NOT?!” Raven shouted and clenched her fists.

“Because I would think you and Qrow know more about it than anyone else in this room.” Raven faltered at that and looked away with a small grunt as Ozpin looked at her and Qrow. “Am I wrong?”

“Raven…” Summer said and Raven _knew_ she was looking at her with those concerned eyes and _she really didn’t want to see it right now._

“So you knew…” Qrow stated scowling at Ozpin and Glynda. “About-“

“About the destruction of the Branwen bandit tribe and your connection to them? Yes, we did.” Ozpin balled his hands in front of him and added, “It’s not exactly difficult to notice when one of the largest bandit groups in Remnant just vanishes overnight, or when members of the group show up near the brink of death in surrounding villages talking about dangerous Grimm and pointing out the ruins of the camp. When we investigated we found it similar to other attacks attributed to Strength. And then a pair of twins with the name show up at our doorstep a couple years after the fact. Honestly, it wasn’t hard to put together.”

“If you told _anyone_ about them!” Raven shouted and started advancing on Ozpin, only being stopped by Summer holding her back by the arm.

“Relax Raven, your secret is still just that; a secret. The only ones who actually know that are in this room.” Ozpin glanced at Summer and Taiyang, who both looked a little guilty under the stare, before he looked back at Raven. “So, Ms. Branwen?”

“…Strength,” Raven started and tilted her head down so her eyes were shielded by her hair, “do you know what it looks like?”

“It is the one with the most eyewitness reports from survivors, so we have a good idea.”

“Tall, with long blonde hair? A massive right arm? A sawn off shotgun and an affinity for fire?”

“Yes, and some have reported distinctive facial plates and an odd dress. One person even reported it made… puns of some kind? That seems a little suspect though.”

“That’s her…” Raven yanked her arm away from Summer and clenched her fists in an effort to keep the tears from breaking out. “That’s the bitch that destroyed my tribe! That… that…!” The tears started falling and she grasped at her head in a last ditch effort to stay in control. Then she felt a pair of arms wrap around her from behind and Raven knew who it was even before she pressed her head against her back and spoke to her.

“That’s enough Rae,” Summer said hugging her tighter, “just breathe. Breathe.” Raven followed the directions; inhale, count to four, exhale, count to four. After a few repetitions Raven was certainly calming down, but she couldn’t stop crying.

“If it’s too much to talk about, we can just skip it,” Ozpin said with no small amount of concern with Glynda nodding in agreement. “I’m sure there’s-“

“No.” Raven lowered her hands and looked back up at the headmaster, her eyes more red than they were before, and said, “You brought that up because you wanted us to tell you about it, right?” Ozpin hesitated for a second before slowly nodding. “Well, if my tribe’s story can help _you_ find her so _I_ can kill her, then I’ll suffer every bad memory. It is the reason why I’m even here.”

“Right,” Qrow agreed and glanced over when Taiyang clasped a hand on his shoulder. He didn’t shrug it off.

“Then, if you can, tell us about that night. _Every_ account we can collect about a General’s attack helps us figure them out. The way they fight, act, anything at all.” Ozpin glanced over at Glynda, who pulled her scroll out and nodded when she was ready. It took Raven a few more breaths and another squeeze from Summer before she started.

“It was just a normal night. Qrow and I were just finished with training, so we were studying. Tactics, history, everything we’d need to know to get into a Huntsman Academy for the plan.”

Ozpin blinked at that, but said nothing. _‘Something to ask about later.’_

“We were winding down from that when there was this crash at the gate and a huge commotion outside. There were some shouts and by the time Qrow and I got our weapons there was a gunshot and the tent we were in burst into flame.”

“We got out ok,” Qrow said and shook his head, “but by the time we did everything was on fire and the Grimm had overrun the whole camp, with her right in the center of it all. I could have sworn she looked _bored_.”

“We fought her as best we could, but she was tougher than she looked. Qrow stabbed her right through the stomach and I got her neck, but she didn’t even flinch!” Raven clenched her hand again, “She was fast too. We could barely keep up with her and help out with the other Grimm in the process, and that’s not even getting into the banter.”

“Banter?” Glynda asked looking up from her Scroll, “That’s new. What do you mean?”

“You know, like how we act during spar sessions,” Qrow said and pitched his voice into a higher, feminine pitch. “Don’t overextend your reach when you swing, watch your footing, maybe you could actually hit me if you worked together better.” His voice returned to normal as he added, “You know, that kind of stuff.”

“It sounds like it was just toying with you,” Glynda commented looking back to note that down in her scroll.

“It was,” Raven said and held up a lock of her hair between two fingers. “I found out when I cut off a few hairs during the fight and she went ballistic. No jokes, no banter, no grin. We were at her mercy in only a few seconds after that; I didn’t even see her move. I can still feel her grip on my throat if I focus hard enough.”

“That is also new; I would have never taken Grimm to be ones for vanity or to hold back in any capacity.” Glynda made a note of that too. “So how did you get away from it?”

“That’s the worst part.” Raven felt the sting of tears build up again at the memory of the worst moment of her life. “She let us go.”

“It _let you go?!_ ” That came from Ozpin, who couldn’t keep the surprise off his face. “That’s… what did you do?!”

“We weren’t scared,” Qrow answered and clenched a fist, “At least that’s what she said. ‘Why aren’t you scared? After everything I did you should be, but you’re not.’ She seemed to be impressed by that.”

“After that, she let us go. Even gave us a thirty second head start.” Raven shook her head and grit her teeth. “I believe her exact words were ‘maybe you’ll put up a good fight in a few years.’ She was right though, I wasn’t scared of her. I was just angry and hateful. I hated her for what she did; I hated myself for running away and… for being so weak. I… I just hated everything.”

“Rae…” Summer said and gave Raven another squeeze.

“We never saw her again after that,” Qrow said and hunched over a little more than normal. “We hopped around for a bit, doing odd jobs and small hunts to keep ourselves fed, until we were old enough to come here. You know the rest.”

“I see.” Ozpin tapped a finger against his hand and asked, “Do you believe there’s a reason for the attack?”

“No,” Raven shook her head, “We didn’t do anything to draw Grimm. It was a quiet season too. No battles, no strife, no reason for anybody to be sad or anything; We were just living our lives! And she showed up anyway and _BURNED IT ALL TO THE GROUND!_ ”

“Damn.” Ozpin shook his head and stood up, “It seems it was just another random attack. The Grimm don’t care _who_ they attack as long as they end up dead, and it seems the Generals are the same. And they can attack a settlement that would normally escape the Grimm’s notice. There just isn’t a pattern to follow.”

“So you _can’t_ track her?”

“Not at the moment, but just because we can’t see a pattern doesn’t mean one doesn’t exist. We just need more information, anything we can get.”

“There’s Salem.” Ozpin blinked at Raven as she carefully pulled away from Summer and continue, “They work for the Witch, so if we go after her we can find them!”

“And die in the process.” Ozpin picked up his scroll, causing the images of the cards over his desk to disappear, and put it away as he walked around his desk. “Nobody knows where Salem is, and it’s too dangerous a prospect in any case. In the past we’ve sent many veteran Huntsman after just the Generals, sometimes in groups as large as twenty, and none of them ever came back. If we’re lucky, we find a hand, or a scroll, or a head. Most of the time, nothing _ever_ comes up ever again. Salem is even worse.”

The room was quiet for a moment as STRQ took that in. After a while, Taiyang sighed and spoke up. “This is a lot to take in. What are we supposed to do about them?”

“Nothing,” Glynda answered sternly, “You four won’t be doing anything in regards to the Generals.”

“But-!” Raven started.

“I don’t care about any personal connections you may or may not have in regards to them. You. Will. Not. Pursue them!” Raven growled and glared at Glynda.

“Consider that a standing order,” Ozpin added and clasped his hands behind his back, “As strong and exceptional as you all are, you’re still just students; nowhere close to being ready to confront them, let alone defeat them.” Summer looked down at those words, knowing the truth of them all too well. “It’s possible the four of you might be in danger anyway. The Generals are able to control other Creatures of Grimm, either through verbal commands or, as you’ve seen first-hand, through some form of telepathy. You managed to escape the Death General Summer, and undoubtedly it knows and will remember that.”

“It’ll send more Grimm after us then?” Summer asked.

“Yes, and they’ll be more determined to end your life the longer you live and evade them. If you really wish to fight against them, then you need more training, more experience before I will even _think_ of letting you go after them. I will not bend on that, under any circumstance. _Understood?”_

“Y-yeah,” Taiyang said rubbing the back of his head.

“Sure,” Qrow said with a shrug.

“I’m not in any hurry to see them again anytime soon,” Summer said and looked over at Raven, who was just staring silently at the floor. “Rae?”

“I’ve waited three years to get my revenge on her for what she did,” she finally said and shook her head, “what’s a few more on top of it? But Strength is _my_ kill when its time, you got that?”

“I would advise against actually doing that. They survived since the Great War for a reason after all. However if you think you’re able to and see a chance, that’s up to you. All I ask is that you don’t get yourself killed trying to get revenge.” Raven silently nodded in agreement and Ozpin gave a small sigh. “Well, that about catches you up on what we know about them. I wish there was more I could tell you, but we’re working at a severe disadvantage.”

“Like always,” Summer agreed with a small sigh. “There’s one thing I still don’t understand. Why would they be so close to Beacon like last night? I can understand Salem wanting to keep an eye on the academies, but wouldn’t it be less risky to use normal Grimm to spy instead of sending the Generals?”

“Yes and with less risk of being discovered, like what happened with you,” Ozpin nodded, “We’re looking into that. I have a couple of theories, but none of them are good.”

“You will tell us if something changes on that, right?” Summer asked narrowing her eyes just the slightest, which Ozpin caught and returned as he nodded. “Then I guess that’s that. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting all of that.”

“No one ever is. But that’s a part of being a Huntsman: encountering and adapting to unexpected situations.”

“No kidding,” Raven whispered and followed with a louder, “Are we done here? We got dinner waiting for us.”

“I’ll contact you if there’s anything I’ve forgotten. You’re dismissed.” Team STRQ nodded and, with equal amount of relieved sighs, they made their way to the elevators.

“What a day,” Taiyang muttered once they reached the elevator and Qrow hit the call button. “Well, at least there’s pizza to look forward to right?”

“Right,” everyone agreed just as the elevator ‘dinged’ and Summer led the way in lifting her hood back over her head. She pushed a button once everyone was in and took another deep breath.

“And don’t forget you have remedial lessons tomorrow!” Ozpin called out, “So be ready.” The doors were closing when STRQ realized what he had said and yelled “What?!” just as the doors closed. Ozpin couldn’t help the smile as he circled his desk to sit back down.

“You did catch that, right Professor?” Glynda asked once Ozpin had sat down and nodded in answer. “I’m curious about this ‘plan’ Raven slipped out.”

“If I were to guess, it may be connected with their intentions of coming to Beacon.” Ozpin clenched his hands in front of him and tapped a finger against his knuckles. “I’ll ask Qrow and Raven about it at a later date. It would be nice to know what the Branwens were planning.” A hologram popped up on his desk top, showing it to be a communication from the Vale Council. “But that will have to wait. Duty calls first.”

“Indeed,” Glynda agreed and started walking to the elevators. “Good night Professor.”

“Good night,” Ozpin returned and tapped the hologram.

* * *

**(present, Team STRQ’s dorm)**

Time passed rather quickly as the members of STRQ and CFVY enjoyed a bit of R and R, which mostly consisted of eating pizza, reminiscing about everything they’ve been through the last year, and eventually settling into a fighting game night. It had been a good night full of ups and downs, though once the fighting game was turned on one girl in particular was experiencing nothing _but_ downs.

“You MOTHER FUCKER!” Raven shouted and gripped her Scroll hard enough that it might of cracked as she lost _again_ to Yatsuhashi. “I had you that time!”

“Language,” Yatsuhashi chided, “And you were too predictable to _not_ win against Raven. Try mixing your combos next time. And also-”

“Whatever. I’m passing it off and getting more pizza.” Raven set the Scroll down and stood up to get more food. She did have to jump over Velvet as she made a dive across the floor to get the Scroll, just barely beating out Coco, and started a match against Yatsuhashi while Raven kept muttering about ‘stupid Bloodedge bullshit.’

“You know, I think we definitely needed this,” Taiyang commented from his spot on Qrow’s and looked over at Qrow as he was quietly eating a slice. “You know, just relaxing after everything that’s been happening.”

“Yeah,” Qrow agreed and pointed at Taiyang with his pizza, “I don’t know why you’re telling _me_ this though. I know this and I try every moment of my life to just get some peace and quiet. Come to think of it, why _are_ you talking to me?”

“I ran out of my pizza half an hour ago, it’s not my turn at the game, and you weren’t doing anything. I’m just trying to entertain myself until everyone’s ready for bed. Speaking of…” Taiyang stood up and carefully walked around the grouped up CFVY in the center of the room and hopped up to check Summer’s bed. “Hey Summer, are you-“ Taiyang stopped when he saw Summer still in the same position she had been, except there were two empty pizza boxes next to her.

“What?” she asked holding a half-eaten slice of pepperoni over her head.

“What the… when did you…?” Taiyang stammered looking between Summer and the table where the pizzas were set. _‘I didn’t see her move at all tonight! When did she-?’_

“Don’t worry, I’ve been eating,” Summer said sitting up and grabbing the boxes. “Can you do me a solid and put these in the trash pile Tai?”

“…Sure Sum,” Taiyang nodded taking the boxes from Summer and dropping back down to the floor. He turned around to see Qrow and Raven looking between him and the boxes in his hand before they all shrugged and went back to watching the game and putting trash away.

Taiyang had just put the boxes in their proper place and was about to join the Branwens on Qrow’s bed when someone knocked on the door. Velvet paused the game and everyone turned to look as someone said, “Excuse me! Do you know how late it is?! Some of us are trying to sleep!” Everyone blinked at that and Velvet silently turned the Scroll around to check the time while the knocking continued.

“MIDNIGHT?!” Velvet shouted staring wide eyed at the time on the Scroll.

“What?! It didn’t seem that late!” Fox said.

“Oh crap, we got class tomorrow! Grab some pizza and bail!” Coco commanded and led CFVY’s charge to the pizza table, Velvet taking a moment to throw Raven her Scroll as she ran. Taiyang, being closest to the door, decided to help them by throwing the door open and making sure whoever was on the other side wasn’t going to be in danger of being trampled. The girl on the other side yelped when the door opened suddenly and jumped backwards when Taiyang charged out.

“You’ll thank me in a second!” he said just as Fox and Yatsuhashi ran out of the room and down the hallway back toward their dorm, each carrying a box.

“The receipt is on the table, I circled what you owe us, I expect to be paid back!” Coco shouted through the stack of boxes in her arms and rushed down the hall after Fox and Yatsuhashi.

“This was fun,” Velvet said walking out and nodding at Taiyang. “We should do this again sometime. See you tomorrow Tai.” Taiyang nodded at Velvet and watched as she ran after her team, not stopping her stride even as she scooped Coco in her arms. Coco could only offer a “Gah!” in protest before they were around a corner and out of sight in a dust cloud.

“…Well that just happened,” Taiyang said shaking his head and turned to the girl he knocked out of CFVY’s way. “Sorry about that. We- oh, hey Pyrrha.” Taiyang smiled at Pyrrha and waved at her.

“Uh…” was all Pyrrha could reply with, her body stiff and straight as a board and her mouth hanging open slightly, as her eyes narrowed and flicking between Taiyang and Raven and Qrow peeking out into the hallway and at her specifically. And they were all in their pajamas, her especially. _‘Oh someone please end my life now.’_

“This’ll be good,” Qrow whispered to Raven with a smirk, his sister nodding in agreement with a similar smirk.

“Like I was saying, sorry if we were keeping you up,” Taiyang said pointing back to his room with a thumb, “We’re winding down now, so no need to worry now.”

“O-oh, it’s ok. I’m just… making sure we all get our rest.” Pyrrha’s arms were starting to fall asleep but she still couldn’t move them.

“And where are you staying? It has to be close if you heard us.”

“We’re… right across the hall from you.” _‘I’m living_ right next door _to… oh god, I can’t feel my legs now.’_

“I was wondering who would take ASRE’s dorm. I’ll let them know that you’re paralyzed right now.”

“That would be very appreciated, thank you,” Pyrrha said as Taiyang walked next to her and knocked on JNPR’s door. It took a second before the door opened and Jaune peeked out at Taiyang.

“Oh, hi Taiyang,” Jaune said opening the door fully and stepping out. “Was that you guys making all that noise?”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Taiyang said taking Jaune’s pajamas in fully, top to bunny eared bottom, and wisely decided against saying anything. “We were having fun and lost track of time. By the way, Pyrrha’s kind of paralyzed right now. So…”

“Again?” Jaune asked looking at his partner before turning back to his dorm room and called out, “Nora, we need you again! It looks like another bad one.”

“Coming!” Nora shouted and skipped out into the hallway and over to Pyrrha. She leaned into check Pyrrha’s eyes, nodded slowly, and picked her up like a piece of wood. “Wow, this is a bad one. Ren, get your fingers ready! This one looks like a real doozy!” Nora then walked past Taiyang and Jaune into the room with Pyrrha, with Ren walking over to join them at a bed wiggling his fingers.

“Will she be ok?” Qrow asked stepping out and leaning against the door frame while Raven retreated back into the room, “She didn’t seem like the type to freeze up like that.”

“She’ll be fine, Ren’s really good at massages. She started doing that when she found out your team name. STRQ, was it?” Taiyang and Qrow nodded and Jaune continued, “Well, I guess she’s a fan. Are you guys famous or something?”

“Kind of,” Taiyang shrugged, “And we won’t get mad if she wants to ask us questions, you know.”

“That’s what I said. Oh, hi Summer!” Jaune waved at Summer, who had peeked outside and took one look at Jaune’s pajamas before retreating back in holding back laughter. “Um… is she ok?”

“She’s just tired.”

“I know the feeling. She does have a point though, we should be getting to sleep. Don’t worry about Pyrrha, we’ll make sure she’ll be fine.”

“That’s good. Well, good night guys.” Taiyang gave one last wave as Jaune closed the door, getting one last look at Ren massaging a still stiff Pyrrha before the door closed completely. Taiyang shrugged at Qrow and the two walked back into their own room.

“Of course they’re right next door to us,” Raven said as Taiyang shut the door. She shook her head and sat down on her bed. “We’ll never be free from them will we?”

“Probably not,” Qrow agreed jumping onto his own bed.

“Dammit, it’s just like MRGD.” Raven sighed and fell backwards onto her pillow. “So much for a good feeling for the year, huh?”

“Just a small hiccup. They’re good people,” Summer said glancing over the edge of her bed. “Besides, it’s not the worst thing that’s happened lately.” Summer dropped her head onto the mattress and sighed, “I just _had_ to investigate that Seer, huh?”

“Don’t blame yourself for that. You couldn’t have known what would happen,” Taiyang said jumping onto Summer’s bed and giving her a comforting pat on the back. “Let’s try and look on the bright side of all this.”

“And what bright side would that be?” Raven asked and started counting her fingers, “fighting a shadow war we have almost no business in, targeted by a group of dangerous Grimm, one of which already destroyed my old home, we have no information on how to deal with _any_ of those, and we still got to play the part of students here.”

“They haven’t gotten to us yet,” Taiyang countered, “so maybe ‘you know who’ can’t get past the Defense Grid. That means Beacon is a safe place for us, to train and study and just get better. So, let’s just play it by ear and… I don’t know, just be students for a bit? We just got into a bunch of heavy stuff and I know I need a break from all that. Normal school stuff should do it, right?”

“Whatever.” Raven rolled onto her side and dug herself deeper into her sheets with a sigh. “I’m going to bed. I’ll deal with all this shit tomorrow.”

“That sounds like an idea,” Qrow agreed waving his hand in the air.

“Yeah, tomorrow,” Taiyang agreed hopping down to the floor. He moved to turn the lights off, plunging the room into darkness, and slid under the covers of his bed. “Night guys.”

“Night,” Summer whispered and carefully moved under her own covers. She picked up her Scroll and made sure the alarm for the next morning was ready to go before setting it down next to her pillow and closing her eyes.

Too bad sleep didn’t come to her easily. Her mind raced constantly with thoughts about all kinds of things; school, preparations that the team needed for whatever they would need for the coming days, the endless questions that would probably be coming her way from the new first years once they realized who she and her team were.

 _‘And the Generals. It’s still unreal; How could a group of Grimm so strong be hidden in plain sight for so long, and how strong could Salem be if she’s able to bring them under her control. What could they be planning with the Academies. How many people have died because of them.’_ Summer gripped her pillow tightly and found herself thinking back to a distant time.

She thought of a town square in chaos.

She thought of the Creatures of Grimm as they overrun her village and how hard she had to fight as a little girl just to run and survive against them.

She thought of scythes and screams.

 _‘It couldn’t be… could it?’_ Summer pressed her face into the pillow and tried to fight back both tears and the familiar, comforting feeling of hatred in her heart. “Dad…”


	9. Intermission: Cinder

“Again.”

Cinder bit down a groan, instead focusing once again. She felt a fire rise up inside her, focused it into her hands, and shot a fireball at the image of a Beowolf that Emerald created for her. The fireball shot through the Beowolf, breaking the illusion, and flew into the back wall of the room where it blew up singeing the wall.

“Again.”

She had been at this for a while now, making and throwing fireballs at either nothing or illusory Grimm, and it was starting to wear on her both physically and mentally. She understood the reasons _why_ she was training, but she will never understand why she had to train with _her_ constantly looking over her.

“How long is this going to take?!” Cinder asked glaring at Ruby, who was leaning against a wall with her arms crossed watching her as she trained.

“Until I say so or until you can’t do it anymore, like always,” Ruby answered and ran her left hand down her face, “Again.”

Cinder clenched a fist and felt the heat of fire envelop it as she continued glaring at Ruby. She wanted _so badly_ to throw a fireball at the General, but knew that would end badly so she threw it to the far end of the room followed by a second.

“I think she’s angry,” Ruby said with a small smirk, which only made Cinder angrier and led to her throwing fireball after fireball at the far wall while imagining the brick was Ruby. This continued for an a few seconds, which seemed like an agonizing eternity for Cinder, until she tried and failed to throw one. She looked down at her hand and growled quietly at how _distant_ the fire inside her felt.

“And we’re done,” Ruby said pushing off the wall and sauntered over to Cinder. “Nineteen.”

“What?” Cinder asked turning to look at Ruby as she grabbed Cinder’s arm and ran her right hand along the dress, the odd texture of the Grimm arm raising goosebumps where it touched.

“You managed nineteen full powered fireballs before you burned out all the Dust.” Ruby stopped at one of the golden lines on the dress and plucked out one of the small Fire Dust crystals that had been sewn into the embroidery. She held it up the now black crystal and crushed it between her index finger and thumb and shaking the literal dust away from her. “Queen will be very pleased to know that. We’ll start again once you get your dress ready again.”

“…Fine,” Cinder said taking her arm back and started walking to the door where Emerald and Mercury were waiting. She was barely at the door when Mercury raised a hand without taking his eyes off the comic that was reading.

“Hey, I got a question about all this.” Mercury said.

“What?” Cinder asked.

“Well, you’re supposed to have these unstoppable powers or whatever right?” Mercury looked up from his comic and shrugged, “So why bother training with Dust?”

“Did you not pay attention the last time we explained it to you?” Ruby asked walking to Mercury and snatching the comic out of his hands. The gray haired assassin locked eyes with Ruby’s red ones for a second before Emerald cleared her throat.

“You… um, you never did explain to Mercury,” she said cautiously.

“Excuse me?” Ruby asked rounding on the green haired girl.

“You’re thinking of Gemini.”

“…Who?”

“You know, your last banquet?” Ruby blinked once and closed her eyes in thought, tapping the comic against one of her horns, before she opened them and snapped her fingers.

“Oh yeah, you’re right. Man that was a good day.” Ruby couldn’t help but lick her lips before turning back to Mercury and handed his comic back to him. “Alright, I’ll give you a quick explanation because you _might actually_ need to know this.” Mercury took the comic and watched as Ruby walked over to Cinder and ran a hand up one of her arms. “While it is true that Cinder has some amazing powers, right now its incomplete. You only have your own failure to blame for that.”

“I would argue there wasn’t much we could do against a .50 caliber machine gun and the crazy bitch behind it, but that’s old news by now,” Mercury said crossing his arms.

“Indeed. Still, what little she _did_ get is enough to get things going.” Ruby took her hand off of Cinder and motioned for her to lift her hand up. Cinder did just that, lifting her left hand up and creating a small flame in the palm of her hand. “But, as you can see, it’s still not much. _This_ is about all she can do with just her powers. So she needs a bit of a boost to be effective.”

“Ah I get it,” Mercury nodded and unfolded his arms, pointing at Cinder’s dress. “She uses the Dust in her clothes to strengthen her powers so they can be used in combat, which also hides what they really are. Dust doesn’t last forever though, which is why we take a bit every time we steal some in Vale. Is that about right?”

“I like you,” Ruby said with a predatory grin, “you actually seem smart.”

“And the training?”

“It’s like any skill or Semblance. They get better the more you use it.” Ruby put a hand on Cinder’s arm and moved behind her so she could wrap both of her arms around Cinder’s neck. She then placed her head on Cinder’s shoulder, her left cheek pressing into Cinder’s right, and grinned widely at how the woman shivered at the unwanted closeness. “And this girl _is_ getting better. She went from being able to only cast five fireballs to nineteen using the same amount of Dust in only a few months. You should be proud of yourself Cinder.

“And who knows,” Ruby added stroking her left hand down Cinder’s other cheek, watching the woman flinch slightly at the cold of her gauntlet, “maybe when she actually _finishes the job_ we sent her out on, she won’t even need Dust to be effective. Just imagine that Cinder, all that power at your fingertips. So close, but just as far away, and it drives you so mad at how you can almost… taste… it…” Ruby pulled her head away and slowly opened her mouth to reach her tongue out to Cinder’s cheek.

“STOP BEING CREEPY!” Cinder finally shouted and jerked her head away from the General’s.

“You only had to ask,” Ruby said with faux sweetness and let Cinder go. She moved past Cinder and walked to the door, placing her right hand on it and stopping. “But, all of that will only happen if everything goes as planned.” She turned and looked Mercury and then Emerald in the eye as she added, “Just don’t screw up your jobs and we won’t have any problems, understood?”

“Crystal,” Mercury said while Emerald just nodded.

“Good, because if you _do_ screw up, I’m sure Queen won’t mind if my sisters and I plan another banquet.” Ruby moved her hand down to the knob and opened the door licking her lips. “That reminds me, I’m feeling a bit peckish. I’ll report to Queen about Cinder’s progress and ask her if I can go out for some food. You three want anything?”

“I’ll… see what we have here first,” Mercury said carefully while Cinder and Emerald simply shook their heads.

“Your loss. Oh, and Cinder,” Ruby barely turned enough so Cinder was in her peripheral, “If you can get that number up to at least twenty five, you might just be ready for the front lines. You wouldn’t want to be _dead weight_ , now would you?” Cinder would never be able to hide the glare and clenched fist at the jab, neither would it stop amusing Ruby at how easy it was to rile the woman up. That small laugh as the General left the trio alone, closing the door behind her as she left, was one of Cinder’s most hated sounds, just below clown horns.

“Bitch,” Mercury said shaking his head and leaning against the wall, “We won’t have to deal with her for much longer are we?”

“Since she’s in charge of my training,” Cinder said taking a breath to steady her nerves, “we unfortunately have to. I’m not any happier about it than you are Mercury, but we have to deal with her until it’s done.”

“I’ve dealt with worse,” Mercury tapped a foot against the ground, “I just wish she wasn’t such a condescending bitch.”

“True,” Emerald said with a small nod before adding quickly, “but don’t say anything like that around her or the other Generals, ok?”

“I’m not stupid. So who’s Gemini?”

“Um…” Emerald faltered and looked away, holding her arms tightly.

“You weren’t the first assassin we tried to recruit,” Cinder said and started pacing, “And neither was Marcus. While we were looking for him, we needed someone to fill the gap. Gemini did just that.”

“Ok,” Mercury suppressed the small bit of bile that rose at his father’s name and asked, “so what happened to him?”

“Her,” Emerald corrected and shuddered a little, “and what happened is she couldn’t keep her mouth shut. She was a little unhinged; kinda twitchy, back talked and questioned orders a lot, that kind of thing.”

“She back talked the Generals one too many times,” Cinder said shaking her head, “so they beat her within an inch of her life and made her the centerpiece of a ‘banquet.”

“Oh.” Mercury tried to suppress the shivers as Emerald started talking agin.

“They… made us watch as they held it. Gemini was still alive when they started and kept screaming until she finally died. It took longer than it should have and I… I’m pretty sure two of them fought over her eyes. And-“

“That’s alright, I get the point!” Mercury backed up a little and held his hands up, “Don’t sass monsters, do what I’m told, and we get out of this alive.”

“Good man,” Cinder said and walked over to open the door. “let’s get back to work. I’m sure there’s plenty to do.” She walked out of the room and into the hallway, followed by Emerald and Mercury.

“And honestly,” Emerald whispered to Mercury, “keeping your head down might not save you anyway. They _are_ Grimm and love looking for an excuse to hurt people.” Her eyes flicked over to Cinder for a split second, though Mercury decided to pretend not to notice.

“Noted,” was all he said and returned to his comic.


	10. The Start of Several More

_“This will be the day we waited for! This will be the day we open up the door!”_

_‘Can that be tomorrow please?’_ Summer thought to herself as she poked her head out of her covers to glare at her Scroll.

_“I don’t want to hear your absolution! Hope you’re ready for a revolution!”_

She sighed and reached out to pick up the scroll, flicking it open to find the time was indeed 8:00 A.M. as it should be.

_“Welcome to a world of new solutions! Welcome to a world of bloody evolution!”_

“Fine, I get the message,” Summer muttered and shut the scroll, which cut off the alarm music. She set the scroll aside and lifted the covers off of her. She pushed herself up with a yawn and rubbed her eyes, clearing her vision enough to see Qrow and Taiyang halfway out of their pajamas, and she rolled roughly off of her bed and landed on her feet.

“Morning,” Taiyang said with a small wave to Summer.

“Morning,” Summer returned with a yawn. She stretched and looked around for a moment before she asked, “Where’s Rae?”

“She claimed the bathroom already,” Qrow said pointing back at the bathroom door before gesturing to himself, clad only in his pants. “So, do you mind?”

“Fine, big baby,” Summer rubbed her eyes again and walked to the bathroom door, picking up one of her school uniforms on the way. Once inside she shut it behind her with a sigh and walked over to the counter where Raven was brushing her teeth, having only bothered to only put on the uniforms dress shirt, skirt, and a pair of thigh high stockings.

The brunette glanced at Summer in the mirror and moved over to make room. She watched as Summer turned on the faucet and splashed water on her face before she spat her toothpaste leftover into the sink and said, “You look awful. Did you sleep well last night?”

“Nope,” Summer answered rubbing the noticeable bags under her eyes. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine Raven.”

“That’s what you said last time,” Raven whispered.

“What?”

“I said that’s what you said last time this happened! You’re always like this when you don’t get enough sleep: You always insist you’ll be ok, but you never are. If you need to take a day off-“

“I’ll be fine Raven, now drop it!” Raven shook her head and grabbed a bottle of mouthwash and drank a little. With a sigh Summer turned her attention to her hair and huffed when she saw the length. “Dammit, it’s getting long again. I’ll have to get it cut again, which means I’ll have to use money better spent to do that. Ugh, maybe I’ll just ask Coco to cut it like-“

Raven spat out her mouthwash and said, “Or you could style it differently for once. No offense, but the short haired anime protagonist look is kinda played out.”

“Oh shut up, like you’re one to talk about played out looks!” Summer glared at Raven, who ignored the look and started grabbing a brush and a bobby pin.

“Don’t be like that, I’ve actually got an idea for that. It won’t be as cool as my style, but I’m sure you’ll like it. Now turn around.”

“Raven, I don’t have time for-“

“Turn. Around.” The two girls locked eyes for a moment before Summer sighed and shook her head, turning around and picking up her toothbrush.

“Whatever Rae. If I don’t like it I reserve the right to shave your head bald.”

“Deal,” Raven grinned widely and started working while Summer brushed her teeth.

Back in the main dorm Taiyang and Qrow were in the middle of getting their uniforms on with Taiyang looking over the schedule that had been placed in the designated slot in their doors.

“I have to say, I didn’t miss having to put these things on,” Qrow commented as he struggled to put his tie on. “Stupid damn neck strangler.”

“I know the feeling,” Taiyang said tugging on his own untied tie and sighed as he read the schedule book, “Also goddamn these remedial lessons.”

“Of course he wasn’t joking about that. How bad is it?”

“Well, according to this, we’ll have to redo the assignments and classes we failed _last_ year while still working on the classes we’d do normally for this year.”

“But we failed two months’ worth of classes!” Taiyang lowered the schedule book and stared at Qrow silently. After a moment Qrow sighed out, “Oh goddammit,” and finished with his tie and reached for his jacket.

“It’s only for two months,” Taiyang said looking back at the schedule and turning a page, “and it looks like they’re spaced out well enough. We’ll be able to do that.”

“It’s still annoying,” Qrow said as the bathroom door opened and Raven walked out in full uniform setting her hair just right. “Did you hear that?”

“Yeah, we both did,” Raven said picking up a bracelet and slipping it on her right arm. “And I agree, goddammit.”

“So do I, but we only have ourselves to blame.” Summer walked out buttoning up her uniform’s jacket. She glanced over at Qrow and, after a moment of looking him over for a moment, she shook her head sadly and said, “Damn.”

“What do you mean by-“ Qrow started until his eyes widened in understanding, looked down at his uniform, and glared at Summer. “Really?”

“Really,” Summer smirked and walked over to Taiyang and motioned for him to stand up, which he did while setting the schedule to the side, and she started doing his tie for him. “Seriously, when are you going to learn to do this yourself? Tai’s right in any case, we can deal with some extra classes. It won’t be the worst thing we’ve dealt with anyway.”

“I really hate how true that is,” Raven said shaking her head and flicked open her scroll. “8:30 huh? We’re getting faster at this, but not enough time for breakfast today. We should start getting up earlier again.”

“Yeah, but for now screw it.” Summer gave one last tug on the tie she was working on and gave Taiyang a pat on the shoulder before going to pick up her cloak with a sigh. “We’ll just have a big lunch later.”

“Are you ok?” Qrow asked quirking an eyebrow, “You seem kind of-“

“I’m fine Qrow! Let’s just go, ok?” Summer threw her cloak over her shoulders and lifted the hood over her head. Qrow glanced at his sister, who shrugged and shook her head before opening the door and heading outside. Raven stopped when she noticed that the schedule on JNPR’s door hadn’t been removed. She stared for a minute before sighing and knocking on the door.

_‘Better do it myself before someone gets on my case,’_ Raven thought looking back as the rest of the team exited and watched her. _‘Case in point.’_ It took a second before the door opened to reveal Ren, still in his pajamas.

“Good morning,” he said with a wave as Raven leaned around him to see the rest of his team either still asleep or just starting to wake up. “Are you checking in on us?”

“Something like that,” Raven answered picking up JNPR’s schedule and handed it to Ren, “I just noticed you hadn’t seen your schedule yet.”

“Oh, thank you,” Ren said taking the book and opening it. “Hm, first class is Grimm studies with Professor Port at 9 A.M. huh?”

“It’s 8:30 by the way. So have fun with that.” Raven gave one last wave before walking down the hallway.

“…I see,” Ren said and slowly reached for the doorknob. “If you’ll excuse me I have something to do.” Summer and the boys nodded as Ren slowly closed the door until it clicked shut, after which absolute chaos erupted inside JNPR’s room in the form of crashes and shouts of panic.

“…We should leave them be,” Summer said, to which the boys simultaneously answered ‘Yeah,’ and led the way to their first class. Summer tried to stifle a yawn and looked back at Taiyang as he looked over their schedule. “So, what’s our first class?”

After a moment of reading, Taiyang could only sigh.

* * *

Team JNPR’s first day wasn’t going so hot, what with the mad dash they had getting dressed in their uniforms (which they all had trouble with in one form or another) and running to the campus. Not helping matters was the fact that they had no idea where the classroom was and, by the time they figured out where they needed to be, they were cutting it very close and only made it to class with seconds to spare via jumping save.

Needless to say the dramatic entrance into the classroom attracted more than a few eyes.

“Ah, Team JNPR! So glad you all could make to your first class.” Jaune managed to dig himself out from under his teammates, and ignored the snickers of his fellow students, and took in the man he figured was Professor Port. From the neatly combed hair and mustache, to his bright red jacket and… portly appearance, he didn’t strike Jaune as the ‘Huntsman’ type.

_‘Then again, neither do a lot of people I’ve met recently.’_

“If you’ll please take your seats, we can begin the class.” Professor Port gestured with his arm to the seats and JNPR picked themselves up and rushed to sit down in the second row. Jaune was relieved once he was sat down and it was only then that he noticed that his team happened to sit behind Team STRQ. Taiyang was the only one who turned around to offer them a quick wave while Summer, Qrow, and Raven just sat there stock still staring at Professor Port.

“Well, with that out of the way,” Professor Port said boisterously and moved to the front of the class, “I am Professor Port and I welcome you all to Grimm studies. Monsters, Demons, Prowlers of the night; the Creatures of Grimm go by many names, but I only know them as ‘prey’!” The class was awkwardly silent as everyone stared at Port. “Er… as so shall all of you by the time you graduate from this fine academy!” Port started to pace as he continued.

“Vale, along with the other three kingdoms, are safe havens from the monsters and dangers that threaten to engulf our world. That’s where we come in; Huntsmen and Huntresses! The beacons of light against the darkness and those who have sworn to protect those who can’t protect themselves. From what? The very world!”

“Eh yeah!” Jaune, along with everyone else, turned to look at a black haired student who had stood up with a wide grin and a fist in the air. It must have been awkward for him since no one else did the same.

“Sit down Jerry!” Raven shouted at him, which he did so immediately when he saw the anger in Raven’s eyes and her barely shaking fists.

“…Right,” Port continued, “here in this class I will teach you all you need about the Grimm you’ll encounter: Beowolves, Ursai, Nevermore, the whole lot! But first… Miss Rose!”

Summer jumped up and looked at Port with wide eyes as she answered, “Y-yes?!” Professor Port pointed at his head and mimed taking a hood off, which got the point to Summer. “Oh, sorry,” she said quietly as she took her hood off. Since he was right behind her, Jaune noticed Summer’s hairstyle change rather quickly. What had once been free flowing, shoulder length hair had been done up into a neck length bob, which had a simply braid of hair running from ear to ear behind her head.

_‘It looks good on her,”_ he thought with a small blush before blinking and wondering, _‘Where did that come from?’_

“Like I was saying, I’ll be teaching you about the monsters of the world. But first, let’s start with a story! A tale of a young and handsome man: Me!”

_“Oh my fucking god,”_ Raven said under her breath as Professor Port started his rambling.

_“That’s for the swear jar Raven,”_ Summer whispered back to Raven _._

_“Bill me later. I can’t believe we have_ Port _for our first class! I’d rather fight that Nevermore again!”_

“Ahem!” Port loudly said looking at Raven. After a moment he continued, “Anyway, my grandfather smelling of cabbages clued me in about the Beowolf’s weakness: our villages prized vegetables! So I-“

_“Seriously, him and his damn stories. He never goes anywhere with them!”_

_“Wait, he does this a lot?”_ Jaune asked leaning forward as much as he dared.

_“You have_ no _idea. You’ll be lucky to get a lesson_ without _a story. Seriously, they’ll put you to sleep if you aren’t careful.”_

_“…Like Summer?”_ Jaune pointed at Summer and Raven glanced over at her partner. Raven’s eyes narrowed as Summer rested her head in her arms, her eyes closed and her breathing soft.

_“Dammit, I knew this would happen,”_ Raven muttered, which caught Taiyang and Qrow’s attention, and she started nudging Summer’s leg with her foot.

“The beast was no match for my tenacity or my cabbages, and so I returned to the village with the beast in captivity and my head held high as a hero!” Professor Port took a grand bow and started walking forward. “I learned many valuable lessons that day about what a Huntsman is.”

_“Wake up dammit!”_

“A true Huntsman must be dependable!”

_“Why do you have to do this_ now?!” Raven started prodding Summer’s stomach with a finger.

“A true Huntsman must be honorable!” Port’s voice was slightly closer than before.

_“Seriously, wake up you mother-!”_

“A true Huntsman,” Professor Port set a hand in between Raven and Summer on the desk and stared at the still sleeping Summer, “must be strategic, educated, and wise.” Raven’s eyes narrowed as she looked up at the professor’s deceptively closed eyes.

_‘Ah shit.’_

“So who among you believe that you embody these traits?” Port asked mock looking around the class before lifting his hand and slamming it down in front of Summer. The cloaked girl shot up like a bullet with a loud gasp and looked up at Port. “Miss Rose, thank you for volunteering for the class!”

“…I did?” Summer asked, her eyelids drooping down a little.

“Yes!” Port said and leaned closer to Summer to quietly add, “Perhaps this will teach you not to sleep in my class... again.” Port stood up straight and gestured to his right, both at the classroom door and the shaking cage big enough to hold a medium sized Grimm. “Go collect your gear and be ready to face your opponent!”

“…Can I at least get some coffee while I’m out?”

“I’ll have a cup ready for you when you get back. Now hurry along.” Summer blinked a couple of times before she sighed and stood up. Summer walked down toward the door slowly, rubbing her eyes the whole time, and once she was gone Professor Port turned to the rest of the class and said, “As for the rest of you, please open your Grimm Studies text to pages 25 to learn about Summer’s opponent. Study it well, you’ll never know when you’ll face it.” Port then sauntered over to his desk while the class silently sprang into action.

_“Jaune, your scroll,”_ Pyrrha whispered to him and held up her opened scroll and set it down on the desk, which caused a hologram to come up on the desk. Jaune nodded rapidly and mimicked Pyrrha: opening his scroll, setting it down on the desk, and then carefully finding the right text and then the right page.

_“Boarbatusk huh?”_ Jaune whispered to himself as he looked between the picture of the Grimm and the still rattling cage. _“So… am I crazy or was that not there when we came in?”_ He pointed at the cage and glanced at Pyrrha. _“I mean, I didn’t see it when I came in.”_

“Get used to it,” Qrow said turning back to Jaune, “That’s not even the weirdest thing that has happened in these classes.”

_“Like…?”_

“Use your imagination.” Qrow rolled his eyes and returned his attention to a piece of paper on front of him and started doodling gears on it.

_“Uh, right.”_ Jaune decided against using his imagination and instead decided to actually study the Grimm. Slowly and carefully. After several minutes alternating between dull studying and looking up at Professor Port as he took down his weapon off the wall and put a cup of coffee on the desk that he got from… somewhere, the door opened and Summer came back inside in her combat gear.

“Welcome back! Are you ready?” Port asked as Summer made a beeline for the cup of coffee on Port’s desk.

“As I’ll ever be,” Summer answered picking up the mug and downing its bitter contents in one gulp. When she was done she set it down with a look of disappointment and shook her head. “Ugh, decaf. Oobleck would have had real coffee.”

“Well I’m sorry, but I only drink decaf,” Port said walking over to the cage with his blunderbuss slung over his shoulder, “I have to watch my heart.” Summer growled angrily and lifted her hood up as she walked down to the classroom’s main floor, moved her cloak so it hung behind her shoulders and drew York and Soleil.

Jaune closed the hologram and sat up to watch Summer as she lowered her stance and held her sword in front of her. She nodded at Port who… probably smiled under his mustache and raised his blunderbuss axe blade first.

“Let the match begin!” he shouted and swung his axe at the lock, which broke in half on contact and let the Grimm inside break out. The Boarbatusk crashed open the door with a loud squeal and immediately set its eyes on the white clad Huntress in front of it. It hopped into the air and, to the surprise of Jaune and a couple of others who’ve never seen a Boarbatusk, curled into a ball and landed spinning like a saw blade. It stuck to the ground for a moment before launching at Summer, who dodged to the side and swung her sword at the Grimm only to have the blade bounce off its armor plates and sending her rolling roughly to the floor.

“She can’t do this,” Raven commented holding her head in one of her hands as Summer sluggishly picked herself up, “She’s too exhausted.”

“If she really needs it, I’ll jump in to help,” Taiyang said and glanced at Port leaning against his weapon, “Or he will.”

“Come on…” Qrow said clenching a fist on the desk. Summer got to her feet just as the Boarbatusk reared around and charged at her again. Summer took a breath and stabbed at the Grimm, which did stop the spinning monster but at the same time got her sword stuck in its tusks.

“Oh, bold approach!” Port called out as Summer struggled with the Boarbatusk, the tip of her sword inches away from its eye. Summer tugged on York, which didn’t budge the sword at all, and flipped Soleil into a reverse hold and stabbed in between the Grimm’s armor plates. It roared and flailed in pain, which caused it to fling Summer over and behind it just as she hit the switch on York’s handle and inject Burn Dust into the blade. The class winced as Summer flipped and landed roughly on her upper back with a grunt. The Boarbatusk thrashed around trying to get the flaming sword away from its face, which gave Summer the time she needed to slowly roll onto her hands and knees with a cough.

“Summer, are you ok?!” Port shouted and moved his hand down to grip the blunderbuss. “Remember, trust your instincts in a fight! They’ll never-“

“My instincts say SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Summer suddenly shouted and glared at Port, which took him aback, caused the class to gasp, and unfortunately drew the Boarbatusk’s attention back to her. It roared and ran at her, unable to roll up thanks to York, and Summer Blinked on top of some nearby desks which startled the students sitting at it. The Grimm changed course and slammed into the bottom of the desks, which knocked the sword out of its tusks and rocked Summer enough for her to start coughing again.

_‘Dammit, it’s too dangerous to get that,’_ she though glancing at York and the Boarbatusk that was trying to get at her. She quickly looked around the room before she stopped at Professor Port and, more importantly, his weapon. “Any port in a storm,” she muttered as she sprang to her feet and ran on top of the desks toward Port. The Boarbatusk followed her with its eyes and started to roll up just as Summer jumped off the desk and blinked over to Port. He backed away in surprise when Summer landed in front of him and grabbed his weapon from him.

“Hope you don’t mind!” She shouted and wrapped both of her hands around the blunderbuss’ barrel and swung it behind her just as the Boarbatusk charged. The axe’s blade slammed into the Grimm’s tough hide, which knocked it off course into the desk that the rest of Team STRQ were sitting at, which startled them into standing up, and knocked it backwards onto its back. Summer moved the blunderbuss so the barrel was facing up and Blinked up so she was in the air over the Grimm.

She glanced down at the Boarbatusk to make sure it hadn’t moved and fired the blunderbuss to get her body spinning and moved the weapon so it was over her head. She let out a scream as she fell and did her best to swing the weapon down just as the blade slammed down on the Grimm’s stomach. She grit her teeth and held the blunderbuss in place as the Boarbatusk thrashed a little before it finally let out a death rattle and collapsed into a pile. Summer only let out a breath when she saw it start vaporizing.

“Bravo! Bravo Miss Rose!” Port said happily and started clapping. Summer turned to Port as he walked toward her and she stepped out of the way to allow him to wrench the axe out of the Boarbatusk. “And thank you for reminding me of another aspect of being a Huntsman: A true Huntsman is _adaptive!_ ” Port continued the lecture while Summer pulled Soleil out of the Boarbatusk and walked over to where York lay. “As Miss Rose just showed it is very possible to be disarmed by your enemy, so a backup plan is always necessary. Even a secondary fighting style you’re decent at could save your life in the field.”

_“Yeah, one or twenty,”_ Summer muttered as she picked up York, turned off the Dust flow to the blade, and sheathed it just in time for the bell to ring.

“And that’s all the time we have for today. Don’t forget to do the assigned readings on the board,” Port gestured at the board behind him, with only one part not covered in diagrams of various Creatures of Grimm, “And remember, stay vigilant!” The class started getting up and filtering out of the classroom and Summer started to follow them until Professor Port held up a hand to stop her. “Why don’t you stay behind for a moment Miss Rose? There’s something I want to talk with you about.”

Summer sighed in annoyance and looked at her team, who were all giving her concerned looks, and waved them off. They nodded and continued walking outside with JNPR following them. The last Jaune saw of Summer was her leaning against Port’s desk just as he was out in the hallway.

“She’ll be ok, right?” Jaune asked while Raven, Qrow, and Taiyang stopped next to the door and leaned against a wall.

“She _did_ cuss out a teacher,” Pyrrha said looking at the door worriedly, “So…”

“Port’s aware enough to know when someone’s under duress,” Qrow said rubbing his neck, “Still though… we’ll wait for her and see what happens. So you go on ahead.” Jaune looked at the closed door until Pyrrha tugged on his sleeve and he walked away behind his team.

“I knew we should have kept her in bed,” Raven muttered and pinched her nose.

* * *

“I hope you realize why I kept you behind Miss Rose,” Port said moving behind his desk looking over his weapon.

“Honestly Professor,” Summer said impatiently rubbing her eyes, “I’m really not in the mood to be lectured about my language. So can we just-“

“Wrong,” Port interrupted and placed his blunderbuss on the desk. “We’re Huntsman, being yelled and cursed at is part of the life as much as breathing. We both know why I held you back.” Port crossed his arms and quirked an eyebrow at Summer, who looked away from him to rub her eyes some more. “Your performance just now was… lacking, to say the least. If I remember correctly, the last time you did so poorly in a fight was last year when you stayed awake for almost a week straight.” Summer looked back at Port to see he actually bothered to _open his eyes_ to get his point across. “Well?”

“…You’re not wrong,” Summer finally said with a sigh, “I haven’t been sleeping well lately. I thought I was hiding it well but… I guess not.”

“Go on. How well have you been sleeping?”

“About 8 hours… in the last… three days…”

“I figured. Summer, you have to-“

“Take better care of myself because my teammates look up at me and if I falter then they do, I know!” Summer shook her head and started pacing in front of the desk. “I’ve tried to sleep but I just can’t! Too much shit’s been happening lately, and between the crime rate, the Grimm, and every other piece of bullshit the world throws at me I just can’t keep my mind from running off. It pisses me off so bad and I just want to-“

“Relax!” Summer stopped and looked at Port who was holding a hand up gently. “I understand, but you need to calm down. If you knew your condition was so bad, then you should have just stayed in bed.”

“If I missed a class, it’d inconvenience my team. I didn’t-“

“And you’re not doing that now?” Summer stopped, looked at Port as he pulled out a pen and piece of paper, and sighed as he started writing. “Qrow, Taiyang, and Raven can handle themselves for the rest of the day, but _you_ need your rest.” Port finished writing, folded the paper, and walked around the desk to give to Summer. “Give that to Taiyang, then go get some sleep. Understood?”

“Yeah,” Summer said taking the paper and walking to the door.

“And Miss Rose.” Summer stopped and looked back at Port, his eyes closed again. “The staff are all Huntsman, so we all understand that extra rest is needed after extreme situations. If you need the rest, then _get_ the rest; you’ll harm less people that way. Just as long as it doesn’t become a habit, hm?”

“Yes, I understand.” Port nodded and gestured to the door before moving back to his desk. Summer sighed again before she finally left the classroom, where she immediately ran into the rest of her team.

“That took a while,” Qrow said putting his scroll away and pushing off the wall he was leaning against. “So what’s the verdict?”

“I’ve been sentenced to sleep. Here, for the classes I guess,” Summer said holding the paper to Taiyang, who took it with a small look of confusion, and shook her head. “I’m sorry, I-“ she started before her head suddenly felt light headed and nearly fell over were it not for Raven grabbing both of her shoulders.

“That’s enough of that,” Raven said shaking her head, “Seriously.”

“So…” Qrow started.

“I’ll see our ‘glorious leader’ here back to the dorm and get her settled in. I’ll see you guys in class.” Raven then tugged Summer along with a “Come on dumbass,” and left Qrow and Taiyang to go to their next class. Along the way Taiyang opened the paper and read what was written on it.

“Yep, excused from classes for ‘reasons of poor health’.” Taiyang said air quoting the last part and groaned. “I’ll probably have to take notes for her all day… again.”

“Probably,” Qrow said shaking his head, “but I don’t blame her for not sleeping well.”

“Yeah, I think she took last night the hardest of all of us. Which is something considering Raven.”

“Rae internalizes that shit.” Qrow sighed and added, “We’ll have to talk to her about that. Whatever, one step at a time.”

“Yep. One step at a time.”

* * *

Jaune was a little surprised to know that, yes, sometimes the team would be split up for different classes. Which was why he was now sitting awkwardly next to Ren while Pyrrha and Nora went to some other class that Jaune hadn’t caught the name of. He spent the first few minutes of the class desperately trying to think of something to talk to Ren about, though the fact that Ren spent that time staring at the far wall half-awake put that plan to rest. Thankfully that bit of awkwardness was over as soon as Taiyang and Qrow walked in and sat in the row in front of Jaune.

“Hey uh,” Jaune started and leaned over the desk. When Taiyang and Qrow looked back at him he continued, “Is everything ok with... you know, Summer? She seemed kind of…”

“We’re taking care of it, so don’t worry,” Qrow answered turning back to the front.

“Yeah, she just needs some sleep,” Taiyang added, “And you guys should take that as a lesson, especially you Jaune: always get your rest even if you don’t think you need it. It _does_ add up eventually.”

“…I should take a nap soon,” Ren said suddenly and very worriedly, which earned a confused look from Jaune before the bell rang and the class door swung open for a woman with light orange and red hair and similarly colored clothing to walk in.

“Hello class!” she called out with an energetic wave and moved over to the desk. “I’m Professor Peach and welcome to-“ she stopped when she saw Taiyang and Qrow and her features fell into a neutral state. “We’re missing students.”

“Oh yeah… I can explain that,” Taiyang said and started to stand up, only to jump back into Qrow when a portal opened next to him. After a second Raven poked her head out to see where she was and carefully stepped out into the desk row and let the portal close.

“Wassup?” she said sitting down and glancing over at Qrow pushing Taiyang off of him with a glare.

“Well that’s one of you,” Professor peach said and moved slowly over to Taiyang, “you were saying, Mr. Xiao Long?”

“Uh, right. Hold on.” Taiyang dug into his jacket and pulled out the paper from earlier and held it out to Professor Peach, who took and read it quickly. After a moment she let out an annoyed sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Again?” she asked simply.

“Again,” Raven answered, “I was bedding her down just before I came here.” Peach glanced at Raven then back to Taiyang before sighing and handing the paper back.

“You’ll be taking notes for her Mr. Xiao Long.” Taiyang nodded and sat back down. Then, like a switch had been flipped, Peach’s energy came back in full force as she clapped her hands. “Now then, as I was saying, I’m Professor Peach and welcome to Survival! Now, what does that mean to a Huntsman and Huntress’?”

The class was quiet for a moment until someone in the back said, “Um… How to stay alive?”

“Correct! It goes without saying, but the wilds of Remnant are a very unforgiving place. Unlike in the Kingdoms luxuries like stable food sources, fresh water, and safe places to sleep aren’t guaranteed to be found at any point during your excursions. In this class, you’ll learn everything you’ll need to keep yourselves and your allies alive in spite of setbacks.

“A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, as they say. So let’s strengthen you so you won’t be that weak link. With that in mind, open your texts to page 37 so we can begin with first aid. You’ll find it necessary when your Aura reserves are low, which will happen a lot.”

Jaune did as instructed, though he soon found himself not paying attention as the lesson went on. The words in front of him started blurring together as one particular thing kept dancing through his head. _‘Weakest link, huh?’_

* * *

Jaune was lost in thought and running on auto pilot for the rest of the day, barely paying attention enough to eat lunch and give one word answers to the conversation his team tried to bring him into. By the time he actually started paying attention to the world around him again he realized the last class of the day had just ended and the students around him were filtering outside.

_‘Wait, what class was this again?’_ Jaune thought looking around for a clue, only to find it was an almost completely bare bones classroom. _‘Ah crap. Well, whatever.’_ With a sigh Jaune stood up and walked out of the classroom, already certain of his doom in regards to the work for _this_ class, and tried his best to avoid is team on the way through the hallway.

“Hi Jaune!” Nora called to him, signifying his failure at stealth, and hopped in front of him with Ren and Pyrrha walking up behind him. “How you doing?”

“I’m… I’m fine,” Jaune answered uncertainly, “Why do you ask?”

“You’ve been inattentive ever since Professor Peach’s class,” Ren said crossing his arms, “That’s… not good, to be honest.”

“Are you ok Jaune?” Pyrrha asked placing a hand on Jaune’s shoulder, “If you need to, we can-“

“Guys!” Jaune brushed Pyrrha’s hand off his shoulder as gently as he could and stepped away from everyone. “I’m fine, really. I just… need some time to myself ok? It’s… been a busy day, you know?”

“Tell me about it!” Nora said patting her stomach. “I mean we had so many classes we only had time for _one_ lunch break! Can you believe it?” Suddenly her stomach growled and Nora’s eyes narrowed as she moved a hand onto Ren’s shoulders. Jaune could swear he hard rusty metal as she moved. “You heard it Ren, we need to feed the beast.”

Ren was quiet for a moment before nodding and said, “After you Nora,” and let his friend drag him off toward the dining hall.

“Um…” Pyrrha started before shaking the sight off and looking back at Jaune, “Are you sure you’ll be ok? I can help if you want and-“

“Yes Pyrrha, I’ll be fine.” Jaune patted his pants pocket and added, “I have my scroll on me, so I’ll be alright. I’ll… I’ll see you later Pyrrha.” Jaune gave one last wave before he wandered off on his own, leaving behind a baffled and worried Pyrrha.

“What’s his problem?” Pyrrha jumped a little and looked behind her at Raven, her hands behind her head as she watched Jaune disappear behind a corner.

“I don’t know. Ren said something happened in Professor Peach’s class, but I didn’t have it today so-“

“Ah, I get it,” Raven said shaking her head and lowering her arms to rest her hands on her hips. “Leader problems.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve seen it happen with Summer sometimes. She gets locked in her own head about a dozen different things and just can’t let any of them go because ‘it might bring the rest of you down’ or some garbage like that. I understand that team leaders have it harder than the rest of us, but I don’t see the point in getting worked up over that kind of thing. I guess that’s why I’m not a leader then; I’d be a bad leader, and bad leaders only lead to bad teams.”

“Jaune…” Pyrrha glanced to where Jaune disappeared. She thought about going after him when a thought occurred to her. “Speaking of Summer, how is she doing? She looked awful last I saw her.”

“She’s fine. Different leaders have different problems; Summer worries too much, so she forgets to sleep sometimes. You just have to put her to bed and she’ll be out for the rest of the day, no worries.”

“Was that hard?” Pyrrha asked scratching her cheek, “I can’t imagine Summer being the type to lie down quietly.” Raven didn’t immediately answer and seemed to be staring into space. “Raven?”

* * *

_“Get back here dammit!” Raven called and lunged for Summer again, though she only grasped rose petals. One thing that Team STRQ had learned in the past year was that their leader was… unpredictable when she was running on low sleep. That combined with her semblance made for a pain in the ass for whoever volunteered to put her to bed._

_“I don’t want to wear those!” Summer shouted once she had finished Blinking to the other side of Raven’s bed. “I’m fine sleeping as is!”_

_“Not in that cloak, I will not have your death by strangulation on my record!” Raven shouted and held up the balled up pajamas Summer had worn the previous night. “Now get over here and put these fucking pajamas on!”_

_“Swear jar Raven!” Summer chided and Blinked away from another lunge from Raven and landed on Qrow’s bed._

_“I don’t give a shit! Get back here!” Raven lunged at Summer again, got a face of petals again, and watched Summer bolt into the bathroom and shut the door. By the time Raven got to the door she found that Summer had locked it and she rapped the door harshly. “Open the door Summer, you’re going to make me late!”_

_“I don’t need pajamas! I’m fine as is!” Summer said through the door._

_“I don’t care what you sleep in, as long as it’s not that! I’ll strip you naked if I have to Summer, don’t think I won’t!”_

_“Just you try Raven!”_

_“Fine!” Raven snapped her fingers and walked into the portal to Summer. The second she saw Summer she charged and_ finally _got her hands on her to carry out her threat._

_“W-wait, Raven no! Stop, I’m an innocent flower!”_

* * *

“It wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle,” Raven finally answered and shook her head, “As for Jaune, I wouldn’t worry too much. As much an unrelenting judge of character I am, even I can tell Jaune’s got a good head on his shoulders. Sometimes people _do_ just need to be alone for a bit, even base bitches like him.” Raven ignored the dirty look Pyrrha shot her in favor of looking her over and grinning widely. “Say Pyrrha, you don’t have any more classes today right?”

“What? Well, yes I’m done with classes. Why?”

“That’s perfect!” Raven said with false cheer and planted both of her hands on Pyrrha’s shoulders. “Because we are going to be _buddies_ for the rest of the day! Let’s go to the library and see what we can get into _buddy_.”

“Uh…” Pyrrha was shaking slightly under the older girl’s grip, “That… sounds… _lovely_ Raven, but I think I’d rather help Jau-“

“Not negotiable.” Raven spun Pyrrha around in a cartoonishly comical fashion and stopped her when she wrapped an arm around her neck to begin dragging her away. “To the library!”

“W-wait! What about Jaune?!”

“What about him? Stop focusing on weaklings and focus more on the _fun_ we’ll have!”

“H-help! I’m being Hunt-napped!” was all the red head could do along with flailing futilely in Raven’s grip. What the pair didn’t know was that Jaune _had_ heard the whole thing and, with Raven and Pyrrha going the opposite way from him, left him by himself with only a miserable sigh before he started walking through the halls.

* * *

“Where did you get those sunglasses?”

“These? I saw Coco Adel wearing them and I just had to have them! She’s so cool.”

“Well at least tell me where you got them!”

No matter where Jaune wandered, there always seemed to be someone talking about something that made him feel worse about himself. He sighed to himself as he passed by the boy and girl and tried his hardest to not listen to his peers while he got his thoughts in order.

That turned out to be harder than he thought.

“I’m so glad I chose to come to Beacon. There’s so many cool people here!”

“No kidding. I saw Pyrrha Nikos in one of my classes. I thought it was a cosplayer at first, but it was really her!”

“She’s cool, no offense, but she’s got nothing on Team CFVY. I guess the upperclassmen just have something… different, you know?”

“Yeah, like MRGD. They’re… a team.”

“Forget them, I saw Team STRQ earlier! They’re students here!”

“Are you serious?! From what I heard about them I figured they were veterans!”

Eventually Jaune couldn’t take it and took a sharp turn and found himself on a balcony overlooking the school grounds. Jaune eyed one of the benches for a moment before shaking his head and moving to lean against the railing. There he heaved yet another sigh and rubbed his face roughly.

“Oh man, what am I doing?” he wondered aloud and looked up at the sunset.

“Watching the sunset, I’d assume.” The sudden voice spooked Jaune, leading to him accidentally slamming his knee into the railing, and he turned around to find Professor Port sauntering over and stopped next to him. He placed a hand on the railing and took a deep breath. “Ah, I like coming here after a long day of classes. It helps me get my thoughts in order.”

“I… I suppose,” Jaune replied quietly. “I just kind of… ended up here.”

“So it would seem. Not enjoying your time here?” Jaune looked over at Port and pushed off the railing shaking his head.

“No. It’s… complicated,” Jaune answered pacing around a little.

“Only as much as you make it,” Port answered and straightened up a little, “well, allow me to lend an ear. Confess to me your strife!” Jaune glanced at Port and then at the sunset before sighing and shaking his head.

“It’s… I think Professor Ozpin made a mistake.”

“Oh?” Port quirked an eyebrow. “You don’t like your team?”

“What?! No no, that’s not what I meant!” The way Jaune waved his arms wildly nixed any thought that Port may have had about where this conversation was going. “I love my team! Pyrrha’s great and I’d probably be dead a thousand times if it weren’t for her. Ren’s cool and seems like a good listener, and Nora…” Jaune paused for a moment, blinking in confusion, and scratched his cheek, “Huh… what do I know about Nora? She’s strong and… I have to talk to her more. Anyway, the problem isn’t with them.”

“Then…?”

“…It’s with me. Like… why did he make _me_ the leader? I’m not skilled like Pyrrha or Ren, heck I’m sure _Nora_ would make a better leader than me. I… well, I-“

“You think one of your teammates should have been made leader instead of you, yes?” Port finished crossing his arms.

“Y-yeah. I just… they deserve better.” Silence filled the air for a few brief moments until-

“That’s preposterous.”

“H-huh?”

“Listen, Mr. Arc, I’ve known Professor Ozpin for many years and he’s never once led me astray. If he assigned you as your team’s leader then he decided that _you_ are the best for the role, not your teammates.”

“But-“

“Sure your teammates may be better than you in combat, but that doesn’t make them leaders. A leader is able to see the situation as a whole, the skills of their team, and use that to come up with a plan of action. _That_ requires a far different mindset to truly succeed at. And while it’s on my mind, the ‘natural born leader,’” Port continued finger quoting the last part, “isn’t true in the way you would think. Sure some take to it faster than others, but no one is a great leader when it has _literally_ been one day.”

Jaune flinched a little at that, but still he had to push on. “Well, I guess, but…” he gestured to himself top to bottom, “you know… this?”

“As I’ve said, I trust Ozpin’s judgement when it comes to team placements. In my opinion, _you_ just lack confidence and experience, both of which can be solved with time.” Port then rubbed his chin for a moment before snapping his fingers and smiled under his mustache. “Come to think of it, this actually reminds me of a story!”

“Ugh…” Jaune rolled his eyes unconsciously and flinched back a little at Ports subsequent stare.

“Trust me Mr. Arc, you’ll want to hear this.” Port turned around and placed a hand on the railing. He took a breath as Jaune slowly moved up next to him. “Not that long ago another team was formed in this academy. Individually they all showed great promise and, for one brief moment they all came together in a way that left me stunned. We all thought that they would only continue to grow brighter.

“And then they actually _became_ a team and dashed all of that. They were, without a doubt, one of the _worst_ teams I had ever seen! They constantly argued, couldn’t come together for either assignments or sparring sessions, no cohesion as a team at all! Their leader was particularly bad, refusing to lead or even _talk_ to the others on the team. There wasn’t even a spark in her eyes when she was around. Honestly, it’s miracle they didn’t kill each other like other teams like them.”

“Does… that happen often?” Jaune asked worriedly.

“More than you would think, less than you would hope.”

“…Wasn’t this supposed to be a pep talk or something?”

“The truth hurts sometimes. They didn’t though, just nearly flunked out of the academy entirely. This was probably the one time I _ever_ doubted Ozpin’s judgement, along with several other professors. But when we brought it up to him, he just smiled how he usually does and said, ‘Don’t worry, they just need time to find themselves. If that doesn’t work, then I’ll handle it.’

“And handle it he did,” Port stepped away from the railing and started pacing around the balcony. “A few stern lectures, a… regrettable incident during a sparring session, and the threat of expulsion got the message across that they _needed_ to get their act together if they wanted to stay. And wouldn’t you know it, they did.

“It didn’t happen overnight, but they did improve. I think their leader took it to heart especially; starting small conversations with her teammates, putting in the effort to help them out with small things, and once she actually started applying herself she had a good head on her shoulders. As she slowly opened up, so did her team and they all started becoming much more close knit.”

“I don’t mean to interrupt,” Jaune interrupted, “but how does this relate back to me?”

“The point being,” Port stopped and placed his hands on his hips, “is that while you think you’re a terrible leader right now, I can guarantee you that there have been _far_ worse ones. But that doesn’t mean they, and you, can’t improve. That team I mentioned is perfect proof of that; just look at how much Team STRQ has accomplished in the short time they’ve been here.”

“ST… wait, you mean Summer’s team?”

“Indeed! You may not have realized it… or maybe you have given what happened today, but Summer and her team were actually trouble students when they started. In a way they still are, but for more mundane reasons now: the occasional stink bomb, booby trapped cakes, trespassing into areas they aren’t supposed to go in, things like that. What surprises me the most is how well they actually hid their improvement as a team. We never realized until the news got to us that they had practically taken down the largest mafia family in Vale single handedly before they were done with their first year! I gladly took the shame of my earlier doubt when _that_ happened.”

“…Summer was a bad leader?”

“I suppose that is the point of this story,” Port said running a thumb over his mustache, “Yes, she was. She had a… unique way of thinking how a Huntress should be and that clashed with reality. Until they were forced into that camping trip, her poor attitude and lack of care put her team in danger more than once.”

“But… she’s so _cool!_ ” Jaune thought back to yesterday and the Nevermore they had killed. “How could someone like her be a bad leader at _any_ point?”

“The result of almost a year of constant self-improvement I assure you, and one that’s still happening to this day. Like I said, no one is ‘born’ a leader. Everyone, even the best, need to grow into the role. So don’t be so hard on yourself Mr. Arc, just give yourself time to learn and grow as a leader. Understand?”

“…Yeah, I do,” Jaune nodded and shrugged. “Sorry, I guess I just let my nerves get the better of me, you know?”

“Nonsense! First day jitters are natural for Huntsman in training. Don’t you worry though, days like these will soon be a thing of the past and you’ll develop nerves of steel, like me.” Port let out a loud laugh, which Jaune could only rub the back of his neck in response to. After a moment, Port quieted down and gestured at Jaune to ask, “So, is there anything else on your mind Mr. Arc?”

“Uh, no. That was… pretty much it.” Jaune glanced at the sunset and let out a small sigh, “I should probably be getting back to the others. They’re probably worried about me by now.”

“Well don’t let me keep you.” Port nodded and started walking away from Jaune before stopping a few paces away. “And Mr. Arc…?”

“Y-yeah?”

“I think the fact that your worries were more for you _teammates_ sake than your own speaks volumes. And there’s nothing wrong with asking for advice if you need it.” Port clasped his hands behind him and started walking again. Jaune waited until he was in the building and out of sight before he started making his way back to the dorms.

* * *

The sun had set fully by the time Jaune had made it back to the dorms and through the halls to JNPR’s room. He stopped and glanced at the door across from his room for a moment, but shook his head and went to his room, using his scroll to unlock the door and walked inside to find everyone already in their pajamas. Ren was doing schoolwork while Pyrrha and Nora were sitting on the latter’s bed looking at their scrolls.

“So…” Pyrrha started looking at her scroll, “I just… collect cards? And I battle with them?”

“Yup,” Nora nodded, “and if you win you get crates with more cards in them, which you can use to upgrade with. Rinse and repeat.”

“That sounds like quite the time investment.”

“Well, you could just buy them I guess, but only the lowest of scrubs do _just_ that.” Nora’s face suddenly grew serious and she leaned closer to Pyrrha. “Are you a scrub Pyrrha?”

“Um…” Pyrrha had to lean back from how _close_ Nora was getting to her face, “No?”

“Good. Hi Jaune!” said leader jumped a little at the sudden address and glanced around at everyone now looking at him.

“Um… should I come back later?” Jaune asked pointing behind him at the closed door, “You seem like you’re in the middle of something.”

“No, it’s alright!” Pyrrha said standing up and putting her scroll on her bed, “Nora was just showing me a game. What about you, are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m alright,” Jaune said loosening his tie as he walked over to his wardrobe to get his pajamas. “I just let my nerves get to me I guess. First day, you know?”

“I can understand that,” Nora nodded and glanced to the side, “ _Ren._ ”

“I refuse to be part of this conversation,” Ren said simply, a small amount of anger slipping through, and returned to his work. Jaune stared at his male teammate in confusion mid reach and looked to Pyrrha, who shook her head.

“I don’t understand either and they won’t talk about it,” she said taking a step closer to Jaune, “so… do you? If anything is troubling you, you know you can ask us to help.”

“I-I know,” Jaune said shaking his head, “but it’s not exactly something that you can help me with.”

“But-“

“But I know someone who _can_. I’ll ask them when the time is right, so don’t worry so much ok?” Pyrrha glanced down for a moment before looking back up and nodding. “Thanks. But… if you can help me out with the homework that would be great. I don’t remember the last few classes I had.”

Pyrrha had to stifle a laugh at how Jaune’s eyes narrowed at the last sentence and nodded again. “Of course Jaune, just get changed first ok?” It was Jaune’s turn to nod and he grabbed one of his onesies. (Pyrrha had another laughing fit at the revelation that Jaune had _more than one_ of those pajamas. Jaune, naturally, attributed it to another nervous fit after what had happened yesterday.) As Jaune went into the bathroom he started thinking about how he would go about asking for help and, more importantly, if she was actually ok after what happened earlier.

“So…” Nora spoke up once Jaune was out of sight and looked at Pyrrha, “Where did _you_ go all day? Ren said he saw you with Raven. What did you two do?”

Pyrrha could only blush deeply and turn away from Nora, her eyes drifting down to the floor. “I… didn’t know the library had a young adult section.”

“…Huh?”

* * *

“So… should we wake her up?” Taiyang asked looking up at Summer’s bed, where said girl was snoring away happily. “She’s been asleep all day. Is that… you know, good for her?”

“That’s a good question Taiyang,” Raven said looking over at him before going back to clipping her toenails, “why don’t you go ahead and try.” Taiyang glanced at Raven to a dead asleep Qrow and back up to Summer before shaking his head.

“Nah, fuck that.”

“Swear…jar…” Summer muttered in her sleep and gripped her pillow shaking angrily.

“I know I know,” Taiyang grumbled and stalked over to a jar on one of the tables labeled ‘swear jar’ with a list of prices. He grabbed his wallet next to it, slipped out a Lien card, and put it into the jar. “There, happy?”

“…Thank you…” Summer answered and dug deeper into her bed sheets.

“This is going to be a long year, isn’t it?” Taiyang asked looking at Raven.

“Probably.”


	11. Salem's Typical Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love writing Grimm RWBY, especially when I get to have them do stuff like this.

Salem had walked the world of Remnant for a very long time, and in that time she had discovered quite a few things. A few things regarding _her_ in particular were made clear recently. She used to get migraines early in her life, though those stopped after a few key events in her life. She also still had an eye for talent, as her most recent inner circle and especially her Generals could testify to.

She also found out that, contrary to what she thought, she still could get migraines, it just required a certain stimulus. And, after a few decades of dealing with her Generals, she was certain they knew what that stimulus was and _must_ be actively trying to provoke them on purpose by now.

* * *

“I’ve gotten my count up to twenty three as of the last training session,” Cinder said, her arms crossed behind her back and trying her hardest not to smirk with pride in front of Salem. “I’m certain that with a few more hard pushes, I’ll be more than ready for the next phase.”

“Something that you and General Ruby are in agreement about,” Salem agreed nodding slightly.

 _‘For once,’_ Cinder thought, though she kept it to herself as she said, “I do have to give the good General her due credit. She knows just the right way to push me on. I couldn’t imagine getting as good a grasp on these powers without her.”

“Yet another thing that you two agree on.” _‘Though now that I think about it, I haven’t seen Ruby or the other generals all day,’_ Salem thought to herself, not letting her worry show. _‘They are in the castle, but… they’ve been too quiet.’_ “Speaking of, where is the good General?”

“I… believe she’s in the East wing,” Cinder answered, slightly confused, “at least, that’s where I saw her going after my training ended an hour ago. She said something about ‘arts and crafts.’ I would have asked what she meant but… I didn’t think I’d like the answer.”

 _‘Smart.’_ Salem stood up from her seat and started moving to the door next to Cinder. “Go make any preparations you need for your next training session. It won’t be much longer until we’re ready to make our move and the sooner you’re ready, the better.”

“Of course. By your leave.” Cinder bowed slightly and turned to leave the room, Salem right behind her and going toward the east wing while Cinder went west.

Deep down, Salem was dreading what she would find her High General doing.

* * *

Salem soon found Ruby in one of the East wing’s furnished rooms in the middle of her ‘arts and crafts’. Salem couldn’t help but stare incredulously at the Grimm sitting cross legged on the floor humming to herself as she painted one of the brick walls with her hands.

 _‘Looking at her, you wouldn’t think she was responsible for genocide if her looks didn’t give it away first,’_ Salem thought moving into room until she was next to Ruby. “Having fun General?” Ruby jumped and scrambled to her feet at Salem’s question, not caring about staining her combat dress as she saluted.

“Q-queen! I didn’t hear you come in,” she said relaxing only when Salem gave a small wave.

“I didn’t want you to hear me. What are you doing?”

“Oh, this?” Ruby looked at her handywork before nervously pressing her index fingers together. “Well, Cinder’s training finished earlier than I thought today, so I had some down time before my next assignment. So I thought, ‘maybe Queen will love it if I spice up some of the rooms a little.’ So, that’s what I’ve been doing for the past couple of days.”

“That’s what you meant by ‘arts and crafts’?” Salem asked which Ruby replied to by nodding. “And the corpse?”

The corpse in question was a middle aged man that had been nailed to the wall by his hands and feet, the hands pinned above his head. His chest had been split open and his blood and intestines were spilling onto the floor, the former of which being what Ruby had been painting the walls with. The walls around the body were painted with a set of runes in a circle surrounding the body, though Salem knew at a glance that they were nothing but gibberish.

_‘Times like these I’m glad I rarely vomit.’_

“He’s the centerpiece!” Ruby answered with a large smile, “I found him and a bunch of others when I went out for food with Yang a few weeks ago. I took them all and, whenever I have free time, I decorate a room with one of them. It’s like a nice rug or one of those peace lilies from Mistral, it really ties the room together. What do you think?”

“…How long have you been doing this?” Salem asked looking back at Ruby.

“Um… I started about a day after I got them so… 14 days?”

“And how many rooms have you ‘decorated’?”

“Counting this one? Fifteen.”

Salem resisted the urge to groan or show any outward signs of annoyance as she said, “While I appreciate the gesture Ruby, I would appreciate it even more if you clean up all of the bodies. Because I’m now aware that there is a two week old corpse somewhere in the castle and they attract flies.”

“I don’t understand the problem.”

“Ruby, get rid of the bodies. Now.”

“…Yes Queen,” Ruby said sadly and moved to take the body off the wall. “I don’t understand, every time Weiss does something nice for you she gets congratulated. But when I do it, I get scolded. It’s not fair.”

“And speaking of, where is Weiss?”

“She’s in the concert hall,” Ruby replied finally getting the corpse off the wall and setting it on the floor.

“…We have a concert hall?” Another thing that Salem had discovered was the Generals were able to genuinely confuse her every now and then.

“…Oh. That was supposed to be a secret. Oh well, no point worrying now.”

“How was it supposed to be a secret?”

“Well… it was a surprise present for your birthday. But we didn’t know _when_ that was, so it never really came up. Actually, since the subject came up, when is your birthday Queen?”

“You don’t need to know that. So, Weiss made a concert hall for me?”

“Yes, for pianos and the like. Weiss wanted to thank you for the opportunities you’ve given us, so she kidnapped a bunch of carpenters or something to make a place for you to listen to music.”

“Hm… that’s actually really considerate,” Salem commented genuinely touched by her General’s actions. Still, there was the constant doubt when it came to them. “And what has Weiss been doing with the hall while I’ve been unaware about it?”

“Well, I don’t know for sure since I don’t really go over there, but I think she uses it as a torture room for Atlas citizens who insult her.”

 _‘And there it is, as expected.’_ “All the same I would like to see this hall for myself. You know where it is?” Ruby nodded. “Then take me there. You can worry about the cleanup afterwards.”

“Of course Queen. Follow me.” Ruby carefully stepped over the corpse on the ground and led Salem outside the room and down the hall to her left. Walking side by side through the halls of the castle Salem noticed Ruby fidgeting, rubbing both of her arms over and over and glancing at the floor with a concerned look. After a few more minutes of twists and turns of Ruby doing this Salem decided to get to the heart of the matter.

“Is something bothering you General?” Salem asked, causing Ruby to glance at her before shaking her head.

“Nothing you need concern yourself with Queen,” she answered. She then shook her head again and rubbed the white skin of her left arm again. “I mean… I know you told me not to concern myself about it, but I can’t get that Huntress out of my head. The one with the white cloak. No matter what I do or focus on, she always finds a way back into my thoughts. There’s something about her that just _won’t let me go!_ ”

“She is the first of your targets to get away from you in a long time. You’ve had a flawless record before, so it makes sense your first failure is staying with you.” Salem stopped, her general doing the same and turning to her, and gently grasped her chin to have Ruby look up at her. “But as I said, one Huntress isn’t going to affect much in the long run. So focus less on your failures and more on doing your job.”

“If only it was my failures stealing my focus,” Ruby said quietly before Salem took her hand away, “but you are right Queen. I guess I’ve been using my free time poorly if something that small kept me distracted.”

“Well rectify it. Back to the task at hand…”

“Right, the concert hall. It’s not that far away actually,” Ruby pointed down another hall and the Queen and General resumed their walk.

* * *

When Salem followed Ruby into the concert hall, the Witch of Grimm once again found herself dumbfounded by her General’s actions. The hall was massive, easily comparable to similar music halls she had seen during her long time on Remnant, and decorated elaborately. A massive chandelier hung over the audience seating, of which contained only a dozen or so plush chairs that had their own side tables for food and drink. The stage was easily big enough to hold any orchestra, opera, or stage play that Salem could think of, though at the moment there was only a single piano being played. The melody easily carried through the hall as Salem looked down at the plush carpet covering the hall and the elaborate mural of an ancient battle on one of the walls.

Salem kept her surprise in check as she looked at Ruby, who was beaming with pride, and asked, “How did you keep all of this a secret from me for so long?”

“We were _really_ quiet building it,” Ruby answered, a response Salem would have rolled her eyes at if she possessed lesser self-control.

“And General Weiss is here?” Salem asked looking at the piano player on the stage.

“She should be.” Just then the player made a mistake, the sharp key echoing loudly through the hall.

“YOU HEATHEN!” Salem and Ruby looked at the audience seating as Weiss sprang from one of the chairs and stomped one of her feet angrily as she burned a hole into the player. “AFTER ALL I’VE HEARD OF YOUR SKILL YOU CAN’T EVEN PLAY A SIMPLE SONATA?! I’M GOING TO RIP THE EYES OUT OF YOUR SKULL AND EAT THEM WITH PLUM SAUCE FOR THIS ATTROCITY!”

“I’m sorry, please!” The player screamed fearfully and covered his head leaning over the piano keys.

“Oh, there she is. Hey Weiss, having fun?” Weiss turned around at Ruby’s call and looked horrified when she saw Salem was with her. She quickly rushed over to them, looking between Salem and the stage in a panic.

“Q-Queen! I didn’t- I mean… I can explain,” Weiss said, stopping when Salem raised a hand.

“Ruby has already informed me as to how this hall came to be. As I told her, I appreciate the gesture.”

“Oh… well thank you Queen,” Weiss stood up straighter and held her hands behind her back, “it was a group effort.”

“Indeed. Ruby, go attend to your other duties. And remember, _all of them_.”

“Yes Queen,” Ruby said and left the hall dejectedly.

“Um…?” Weiss started to say.

“Arts and crafts,” was all Salem replied with.

“Oh, you found out about those. But I had nothing to do with those!”

“I don’t care about that now General,” Salem stated looking at the stage, “What I _do_ care about is why there’s a man on stage playing the piano. Also, where did you get the piano?”

“I bought it,” Weiss said with a shrug as she led Salem to the chairs, “as for him, he’s Alabast Sinclair, the oldest son of the Sinclair Dog Toy company’s CEO. Would you care for a drink Queen?”

“No. Why is he here?”

“Oh, well, Little Weiss attended a party in Atlas and his father boasted jovially about how his son could play the piano better than her. Such an insult could not go unavenged, so I decided to put the boast to the test.”

“So you kidnapped him to play the piano?” Salem asked sitting down, Weiss answering with a nod while pouring some tea. “I didn’t know Weiss Schnee could play the piano.”

“Oh, she can’t,” Weiss said sitting in a different chair and taking a sip, “She’s actually quite awful at it; she can barely do the ‘chopsticks’ thing. It’s a good thing she’s good at singing and loves doing it. AND DID I SAY YOU CAN STOP PLAYING?!”

“Sorry!” Alibast cried and started playing again, slowly at first until it picked up into a graceful melody. Salem and Weiss sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the music fill the hall. Salem closed her eyes and thought back to distant memories in a similar hall that she hadn’t thought about in a long time.

“Queen?” Salem opened her eyes and looked over at Weiss, who was watching with some concern.

“I’m fine General, just lost in thought,” Salem said looking back at the stage. “This hall was a good idea.”

“I’m glad you enjoy it, and am deeply honored.” Weiss looked down into her tea cup and swirled the liquid in it. “Truth be told, I’ve been thinking about using this hall for singing practice. It’s been some time since I’ve done it and… well, Little Weiss has got me thinking about it.”

“You can do with this as you wish, as long as you do your duties to me first.”

“Of course Queen. I wouldn’t think of doing otherwise.”

“That last note was wrong.”

“YOU WRETCH!” Weiss shouted standing up and throwing the teacup to the floor, the ceramic shattering into pieces as Alabast cowered again. “PLAYING BADLY WHEN I WAS YOUR ONLY AUDIENCE IS ONE THING, BUT IN FRONT OF QUEEN?! THIS IS AN INSULT TO MY INTEGRITY AND LOYALTY I WILL NOT STAND!”

“Now Weiss,” Salem said, getting Weiss to look at her, “One little mistake is nothing to get upset over. If it were, you and your sister Generals would have been disposed of long ago.” After a moment of Salem staring at her, Weiss brushed off her dress and sat back down.

“Start over,” she ordered. After another few moments the music started and Weiss sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m sorry for the unprofessionalism Queen. I was told he was a skilled pianist.”

“It doesn’t trouble me. Though I assume since you have the time to do this your work is coming along?”

“Oh yes, that meeting was today wasn’t it?” Weiss wondered aloud and straightened her dress, “Yes Queen, everything is going as planned. If something has changed on that you would be the first to know.”

“Good. And would you happen to know where General Blake and Yang are? They weren’t at the meeting either.”

“I believe Blake is in her room. As for Yang, I couldn’t begin to guess though I’m sure she’s still in the castle.” Salem nodded and stood up, brushing off her dress as the music continued.

“I’ll go find Blake then, see if she has an update for me.”

“Don’t let me keep you Queen. I’ll enjoy myself here for a little longer.” Salem nodded as Weiss settled back into her chair, which ended a second later when Alabast hit another wrong note. “THAT’S IT!”

“Wait, no!” Alabast screamed as Weiss picked up a black object on the side table and pushed a button. “YOU’RE A HAR-“ he started to shout before being cut off by an explosion right under him, destroying everything in the center of the stage. Salem couldn’t help the small jump of surprise when the explosion happened, though Weiss was more concerned with watching the stage after throwing the detonator onto the floor.

“Good riddance! That’ll teach him to make me look bad.”

“What was that?!” Salem asked pointing at the stage.

“Hm? Oh, I rigged his chair with explosives in case he bored or annoyed me. He was starting to get dull anyway, so that was bound to happen soon.”

Salem rubbed the bridge of her nose, already feeling the start of a migraine, as she said, “Wasn’t he the son of a wealthy socialite in Atlas? Wouldn’t it have been more prudent to keep him alive?”

“His father was the CEO of a _dog toy company!_ His worth was very small to begin with; no one will miss him.” Weiss was quiet for a moment before she started rubbing her armored chin and musing, “Well, except for his family I guess. Oh, I _should_ send his body back to them!” Weiss stood up excitedly and started bouncing slightly, “Oh, I can just _feel_ the waves of horror and sadness that they’ll give off! You’re a genius Queen!”

“Of course,” Salem answered trying to fight off the urge to roll her eyes, “Now please clean that up.”

“Yes Queen! Oh, I should get some pictures for my wall!” Weiss grabbed an old fashioned camera off the table and rushed to the stage, using a glyph to hop onto it before she started taking pictures of what was left of Alabast Sinclair.

Salem left the hall quietly and, once out of sight of Weiss, rubbed her forehead with a sigh. _‘Let’s hope Blake is doing something more sane.’_

* * *

That hope was almost immediately dashed when Salem entered Blake’s room (barely decorated, even for her General’s rooms) and found the Faunus Grimm staring at a Grimm crab skittering around on her floor. Salem walked next to the General and stared at her as she stared downward for a while until Blake suddenly said, “Hello Queen.”

“Ah, so you did notice me enter.”

“Naturally Queen. I apologize for not saying anything before, I was… entranced by this little one.” Blake knelt down and extended a tentacle to pick up the Crab, which scuttled onto it. Blake then stood up and looked it over closely.

“And why is that?”

“For nearly a century I’ve lived on this world and seen all manner of my species. And yet, there are still some that take forms that don’t have any obvious purpose, like this little one. For what purpose does this one take this form?” Blake looked at Salem at the question.

“The Creatures of Grimm are as much a mystery to me as they have always been,” Salem said looking at the crab looking at her. “While I’m sure there is a purpose to this form, I wouldn’t be able to fathom it off the top of my head.”

“Fascinating,” Blake mused taking off her mask. She stared at the crab, which stared up at her, before she smiled a cheek splitting smile at it and ate it. Blake chewed it, the crunch of the shell filling the room before she swallowed and stuck her tongue out happily.

 _‘…Why?’_ was Salem’s only thought as she stared at Blake putting her mask back on and turning to face her fully.

“So, to what do I owe you gracing me with your presence Queen?”

“We had a meeting today and neither you nor the other Generals were there,” Salem explained.

“Of course I wasn’t,” Blake replied plainly.

“And why weren’t you there?”

“Because there would be no point to me being there. Nothing has improved or worsened about my orders or the situation involving the White Fang. Why should I bother wasting your time with useless updates when I could just come to you when something changes?”

“All the same, I would like to see you at those meetings from now on. Understood?”

“Of course Queen. Is there anything else while you’re here?”

“Just the update on the White Fang please,” Salem said crossing her arms.

“Like I said, there’s nothing new to report that requires your attention,” Blake shrugged and walked over to her plain bed, “We _may_ have had a undercover police officer in a Mistral cell, but it’s been taken care of. Or rather I’m about to take care of it.”

“And why haven’t you done it yet? Do you not know who it is?”

“I know who it is,” Blake answered extending a tentacle under the bed and dragging a Faunus out from under it, bound and gagged with fear in his one remaining eye as the other had been gouged out by one of his lizard horns. “I just haven’t taken care of him yet. Isn’t that right ‘Reginald’?” Blake wrapped a tentacle around ‘Reginald’s’ head and dragged him up, the man shaking and making muffled noises of fear as Blake took her mask off and leaned in close to him.

“You thought you could learn more about the White Fang if you infiltrated it huh? Well I guess you learned a little too much this time huh?!” Blake smiled toothily and licked her teeth. “Well, maybe this will teach your friends an important lesson!” Blake then bit on the Faunus’s neck and pushed him down onto his back, ‘Reginald’ screaming loudly through the cloth until it turned into a bloody gurgle when Blake ripped a chunk of flesh out and spat it on the floor.

 _‘Why?! Why do they always have to get blood on the floor?! Don’t they know how much of a pain it is to clean off these floors?!’_ Salem thought narrowing her eyes at the mess being made in front of her as Blake stabbed ‘Reginald’ in the chest with a tentacle. Once he was done twitching Blake’s ears perked up before flattening as she looked back at Salem with a look of embarrassment, blood dripping down her mouth and front of her kimono.

“I’m sorry Queen, I started without asking if you wanted some,” She said gesturing to the body with her free tentacle, “Would you?”

“I’m full, I already ate,” Salem lied and narrowed her eyes at the Faunus Grimm, “and I hope you’ll clean that up. _All of it,_ blood included.”

“I always clean up after my meals,” Blake defended and spat into the blood puddle. “I just wish this guy wasn’t a smoker. It affects the flavor more than you’d think.”

“I’ll leave you to that then. Now would you happen to know where General Yang is?” Blake rubbed her chin at Salem’s question before standing up and turning to her.

“I believe I overheard that Watts needed her help with something in the dining room. I couldn’t care less about what it was though, the man’s experiments are so beneath my notice.”

“Are they? Well, I’ll go see what it is for myself.” Salem turned and left Blake’s room, the General almost immediately leaping back onto the body to continue eating as soon as Salem shut the door.

She was definitely feeling the headache now.

* * *

The dining hall of the castle was one of the places that Salem rarely visited. While she still felt the pains of hunger, she had decided long ago not to quell it if she could help it. The pain helped keep her focused on what needed to be done. So when Salem entered the dining hall and was met with the sight of Yang arm wrestling Mercury with Watts and Emerald watching from the sidelines, she couldn’t help but watch curiously as she made her way to Yang’s side of the table.

“Good day Your Grace,” Watts said looking up from his scroll long enough to bow to Salem before turning back to the scroll. Emerald stiffened up when she saw Salem while Yang and Mercury were too focused on their match to notice.

“Doctor,” Salem returned looking at the match. Yang’s left arm was barely moving and she seemed to enjoy watching Mercury struggle to try and move it. “When I was told you needed General Yang for an experiment, I didn’t think it would be something like this.”

“This is more slaking my personal curiosity about your Generals, Ma’am,” Watts answered tapping his scroll, “and like always, their raw strength is still fascinating to watch.” Yang seemed to take that as her cue to end the one sided match, as she slammed Mercury’s arm down onto the table and leaned back crossing her arms behind her head as the gray haired youth shook the pain from his arm. “And General Yang wins again.”

“Naturally,” Yang said and grinned at Mercury, “want to go another round?”

“No thanks,” Mercury said massaging his hand, “I think you almost broke my damn arm.” It was right then that Mercury finally noticed Salem standing behind Yang and froze with his eyes wide. Yang, naturally curious about this, looked behind her and jumped to her feet when she saw Salem.

“Q-Queen?! I… uh,” Yang said looking at the others in the room, only getting cautiously terrified looks from Mercury and Emerald and Watts still casually plinking away at his scroll. With no help from them, Yang looked back at Salem and shrugged. “Nice weather we’re having?”

“It’s the same as it always is,” Salem answered, her eyes flicking to the table briefly before going back to Yang. “So is this where you’ve been all day?”

“N-no,” Yang answered clasping her hands behind her back, “Just… the last couple of hours.”

“Arm wrestling with someone who couldn’t _possibly_ match your strength.”

“…Yes. It was just a light workout.”

“So what you’re saying,” Salem said managing to keep any facial twitches down, “is that you don’t have a valid excuse for missing the meeting today?”

“…Sssssssshit, that was today?”

“Yes,” Watts offered smugly. Yang shot a glare at him before turning back to Salem.

“Well… you see…” Yang trailed off for a second before shaking her head and shrugging, “Yeah, I got nothing. I just plain forgot.”

“While I appreciate the honesty General, that does mean you’ve spent the day doing nothing substantial. You know what that means, don’t you?”

“I’m getting lashed?” Yang said sulking a little.

“Normally yes, but since you helped supply Ruby with her ‘arts and crafts’ you get to help her clean them up. Understood?”

“Aw, but they really tied the rooms together.”

“And for that comment, you are _now_ going to get lashed. Go clean with Ruby and I’ll _deal_ with you later.”

“Yes Queen.”

“But don’t worry, you won’t be alone in your punishment. As hard as it is to believe Yang, you’ve done the least to irritate me today.”

“…Wow really? That’s a rarity,” Yang said scratching her cheek, “I’ll… let the others know what to expect later. Anything else Queen?”

“Just your report.”

“Same as always Queen. Burning villages, killing humans. It’s getting kind of dull to be honest. Are we going to have a big fight soon?”

“You’ll know when you need to know. That’ll be all.” Salem gestured to the door and Yang gave the usual salute before leaving the dining hall. Once Yang was gone Salem turned to Watts and asked, “So for what ‘experiment’ did you require my General’s help Watts?”

“As I’ve said, just sating my curiosity about the Creatures of Grimm,” Watts replied closing and putting away his scroll. “The Seers are fascinating to study, but your Generals blow them out of the water. Intelligent Grimm, deadly and capable of long term planning, and easy on the eyes if you’re insane and into monster girls.” Watts shook his head at the last part and added, “If I wasn’t disgraced, I could get several awards and high praise with a paper on _just_ those four.”

“Be careful where you stick your nose Watts, you never know what might bite it off.”

“Correct as always Ma’am.” A beeping filled the air and Watts pulled out his scroll and checked a notification on it. “Well, it looks like my work needs me again. By your leave, Your Grace.” Watts bowed at Salem and strolled out of the dining hall, his eyes fixated on his scroll the whole time. Salem waited until he was gone before sighing and massaging the bridge of her nose.

 _‘Those four. If I wanted to deal with immature children, I’d just become a mother again.’_ Salem shook her head slightly and realized Mercury and Emerald were still in the room, standing at attention awkwardly. She took her hand off her face and faced the two as she asked, “Do you two have something to say?”

“Um…” Mercury started and glanced at a stock still Emerald before continuing, “Do you… have a headache, Your Grace?” Salem stared at him silently for a moment, so he added, “I uh… have some aspirin if you… want some…?”

“…What kind?” Salem asked. Mercury relaxed and took out a small bottle from his pants pocket, which was almost immediately pulled from his hand into Salem’s. She looked it over slightly before unscrewing the lid and downing the whole bottle.

 _‘You never know,’_ Salem thought to herself as she tossed the empty pill bottle onto the table and looked at a stupefied Mercury and Emerald and told them, “Get back to work,” before leaving the dining room herself.

“Y-yes Ma’am,” Emerald finally said and waited until after Salem had left the room to slap Mercury’s head.

“Ow, what was that for?!” he replied angrily.

“What’s wrong with you?! Just offering aspirin to her like that, you should be lucky she didn’t kill us!”

“But she didn’t! I was just being nice!” Mercury said grabbing the empty bottle and putting it back where he got it.

“Why do you even _have_ those?!” Mercury silently tapped a boot against the ground and gave Emerald a flat look. After a moment Emerald sighed and started to leave. “Let’s… let’s just find Cinder and never speak of this again.”

“Sure. Big baby.”


	12. Intermission: Blake

_The dreams, or nightmares rather, changed subjects a lot but more and more I found myself back_ there. _Surrounded by dead bodies, my hands stained red with their blood, I could hardly breath and felt like throwing up from the stench. I would end up running but it never helped, there were always more bodies. Some were still as they should be, but others would actually cry and look at me accusingly._

_“Why? Why would you?” they would ask, “Why did you kill us? We did nothing to you!” I could never answer that, how could I? Nothing would ever make that right or wash the blood from my hands._

_And the train kept going on. Nothing but cars and cars and cars, crates filled with Dust strapped to the sides and dead littering the floors and hanging from the ceilings. Still I ran, until I entered another car and found_ her _hunched over a body. I couldn’t help the gasp when I saw her eating one of the bodies and look up at me with blood dripping from her mouth._

_Her face looked just like mine. I took a step back just as she roared and charged at me, tackling me to the ground. She smiled sickeningly at me and said, “All for the greater good, right?” before lunging at my neck._

* * *

“AAH!” Blake screamed as she woke up and desperately scrambled for Gambol Shroud and drew it from the sheath. The blade collapsed down so Blake could aim around the mid-morning woods she had set up camp in. After a minute of slowly turning in a circle with her pistol held out in front of her, seeing nothing but trees and the dead fire pit, Blake released her held breath and sat down against the tree she had been sleeping against.

“Just a nightmare,” she said taking a breath and tightening her grip on her weapon, “Just a nightmare.” Blake took another breath and looked down at her hands, which were both bandaged from fingertip up to her shoulders in wrappings that really needed to be changed. She paused when she saw her right index finger twitch, which soon spread to her whole hand when she took it off the weapon. Blake took a breath and changed her grip on Gambol Shroud and, in one swift motion, stabbed the blade into her forearm.

Blake stifled a scream from the sudden pain and shut her eyes so she couldn’t see the blood gushing from the wound. She retained enough self-control to not pull the blade out as she commanded, “Get out of my head!” She opened her eyes and saw that the sun was covered by storm clouds and the surrounding trees were blowing in high speed winds.

And that wretched Demon was there, standing on the other side of the fire pit Blake had made the previous night staring at her, the roaring flames casting eerie shadows on it.

“Why do you continue to resist me?” It asked shaking its head and looking down at Blake with pity. It gestured around itself with its tentacles and said, “You’re life could be so much better than this. Rooting around in the wilds and garbage of small villages is no life for you, not compared to what I can give.”

“Get out of my head!” Blake commanded again and pressed the blade deeper into her arm, “I’ve seen the ‘life’ you provide. You’d make me just like those brainless ‘heralds’ in the White Fang; endlessly singing your praises and killing people who disagree with you, human and Faunus alike. This may be an awful life, but it’s one _I_ chose!”

“And history has shown your choices always have ill consequences. Abandoning your parents, ignoring obvious suffering, leaving the White Fang in such a brutal manner.” The Demon held the tip of its tentacle to the side of its head and chuckled a little before dropping it and moving around the fire pit, her red eyes never leaving Blake. “Need I go on about your ‘choices’?”

“Better bad choices than no choice at all!” Blake shouted and tightened her grip on Gambol Shroud and dragged it up her arm, closing her eyes and gritting her teeth at the pain. “Get. Out. Of my head!”

“That hurts you far more than it does me you know,” The Demon said much closer than before. Blake opened an eye to find the Demon on its knees and its face mere inches away from her own, her red and black eyes wide and staring. “This resistance and stubbornness was cute at one point, but it’s well worn out its welcome. But the great thing about resistance is that it will eventually give out. Enjoy it while it lasts.”

“Get out!” Blake closed her eyes one more time and ripped the blade in her arm up further before pulling it out and dropping it to the ground. Blake took a few deep breaths and opened her eyes to find the Demon was gone and the world was back to normal. The pain in Blake’s arm came back in force and Blake looked down at her arm, the surrounding bandages and her white pants stained red with her blood. She sighed and took a few of the loose wrappings hanging from her arm and rewound them around the wound until they were covered completely.

“I really need new bandages. Not like it matters though, it’ll heal on its own soon.” Blake shook her head with a sigh and looked at Gambol Shroud, the tip of its blade still wet with her blood, and she carefully moved to pick it up and sheathed it. With it safely stowed away Blake looked up at the sky, the rich blue clashing with how she felt at that moment. “I hate how much she can get to me. When _was_ the last time I thought about my parents?”

Blake’s father used to be the leader of the White Fang back when they were a simple protest group. Her mother was never an active part of the Fang, preferring other acts to help the cause; helping refugees, smaller acts of charity to help along, things like that. When her father stepped down as leader when the group started calling for more extreme actions, Blake took it as nothing less than betrayal and made her opinion on that _very_ clear to them when she decided to stay with the White Fang. She still remembered the sad looks they both had when they went their separate ways.

“And they were right,” Blake said shaking her head and looking down at her feet, playing with her hands by lightly tugging on her fingers. “About the White Fang, about A… well, everything else. I hope they’re both doing ok, far away from all of this hatred and bloodshed. I hope that they’re ashamed to have a killer like me as their daughter.”

And then there was the White Fang. The group had been so integrated into Blake’s life that it used to be a second family. Not anymore though, that ship had sailed a long time ago when Blake finally woke up and saw the group for what it had become. Everyone was rightfully afraid of the crazed extremist group using the words of a demon disguised as some ancient deity to spread chaos and hate.

Blake bit her lip and clenched her good hand into a fist. “It’s true that I did ignore the suffering of others for my own benefit. All for the good of the Faunus, such a simple excuse to cover up so much hurt overall and so much selfishness on my part.”

Leaving the White Fang was the best decision Blake had made in her life, even if she hadn’t exactly expected to _live_ to see it. Still she stood by what she said, actually having the choice in how to live her life was better than anything else, especially having her life dictated by a demon or even one man. With freedom comes clarity, and with every day that Blake spent free she grew more and more disgusted with Adam’s actions and excuses and with herself for even thinking of entertaining them.

“I can’t exactly put all the blame on me though, that’s on him. He’s a manipulator down to his core, always knowing exactly what to say to keep me wrapped around is finger.”

 ** _“Agreed.”_** Blake’s eyes widened before she shut them tightly again and started reaching for Gambol Shroud.

“Get out.”

**_“What was it you thought the other day? About Taurus and what he best embodied. You settled on ‘Spite’ and I couldn’t agree more, since he rubbed off on you more than you think. Leaving his life forever with a bullet simply to spite him was a lovely bit of poetry. I have to wonder, what would you say_ I _best embody?”_**

“Evil,” Blake said simply as she grabbed Gambol Shroud and lifted it up in front of her, the edge of her sheath against her throat. “Get out.”

 ** _“Hmhm, very astute. On your way Belladonna, your ‘life’ awaits you. Until we meet again.”_** The Demon’s chuckles echoed for a moment before dimming entirely. Blake waited a second before she took the blade away from her throat and set it on the ground.

“Again, it says. Not if I have anything to say about that. There has to be a way to rid me of this Demon, somewhere.” Blake clenched her hands into fists again, now realizing that she wasn’t feeling any pain from her injured arm. She lifted it up and gave it a few test movements. “Well, that’s done. Time to get moving.” Blake grabbed Gambol Shroud and used it to push herself up to her feet before stowing it on her back. She walked to the remains of the fire and kicked dirt on it to ensure the embers were smothered and lifted her hood over her head, an additional bit of identity protection along with her bow. With that done, she checked the pack on her waist for everything she would need, took a breath, and broke into a run into the woods.

Wherever Blake would end up, it would be _her_ choice.


	13. A series of complications

“So there we were, in the middle of the night…”

“It was day.”

Lunch time for Team STRQ had gotten more interesting whenever Team JNPR joined their table, wanted or not. At the very least they tried to give their underclassmen the proper attention they deserved, though today Summer noticed that Jaune and Pyrrha were more than a little distracted right now.

“We were trapped in the middle of the woods, surrounded by Ursai,” Nora continued dramatically.

“They were Beowolves,” Ren corrected again.

“Dozens of them!”

“Two of them.”

“But in the end we fought them off, and Ren and I made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!”

“She’s been having this reoccurring dream for about a month now,” Ren explained shaking his head slightly and taking a drink from his mug.

“Weaksauce,” Summer said waving a hand, “You should hear some of the dreams Tai has. It’s an adventure every time I hear one.”

“Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me!” Taiyang said excitedly, “I had a great dream the other night about you and Raven!”

“Oh god,” Raven said face palming, “Please leave me out of your weird threesome dreams please!”

“Wrong Raven! I wasn’t in the dream at all, it was all about you and Summer kicking ass and taking names.” That caused Raven to slowly lift her face out of her hands and move to rest her chin on her hands as she looked at Taiyang.

“You have my attention.”

“Ok, you’re going to have to bear with me for a minute. It starts with you and Summer trying on wedding dresses.”

“Are you alright Jaune?” Pyrrha asked as Taiyang started describing his dream. It took a second for Jaune to realize he was being addressed and jumped a little when he realized.

“Huh what? Y-yeah I’m fine,” Jaune said looking at Pyrrha, “Why do you ask?”

“Well, you’ve been playing with your Beowolf nuggies since you sat down and haven’t actually eaten them,” Summer said pointing at Jaune’s tray, “and that doesn’t bode well. Still upset about the spar the other day?”

“No, I-I’m over that!” Jaune said waving a hand in the air. Getting kneed in the groin in front of a good portion of the school wasn’t exactly good for him, but it wasn’t the end of the world. “I’m fine, really!” To punctuate that he put on an exaggerated smile and gave a thumbs up at Summer, who didn’t look like she bought it in the slightest. Any reply that would have come from her was interrupted by some loud laughter a few tables down from Team CRDL.

“Oh look, the douchebag parade has come,” Raven muttered and watched them surround Velvet.

“Yep,” Taiyang agreed, “I’ll finish my dream talk later.”

“Jaune, we know Cardin’s been tough on you for a while,” Pyrrha said looking back at Jaune with concern.

“Oh come on guys, Cardin just likes to play around. You know, practical jokes.”

“Dude, he kneed you in the groin the other day,” Qrow said shaking his head and looking at his sister. “Just as you said Rae, cardboard cutout bully.”

“Yup,” she replied with a nod.

“Oh come on guys,” Jaune said trying to sound jokey, “name one time he’s-“

“He knocks your books out of your hands whenever you pass by each other,” Taiyang interrupted.

“Um…”

“He trapped you in a door with your own shield once,” Qrow added.

“Well that was-“

“The locker ‘accident’,” Summer said air-quoting the last word.

“…I didn’t land _that_ far from the school.”

“Jaune,” Pyrrha started putting a hand on Jaune’s shoulder, “You know that if you ever need help all you have to do is ask any of us.”

“Yeah, count me out of that,” Raven said shaking her head.

“I know!” Nora said jumping up, “We’ll break his legs!”

“No you’re not!” Summer said glaring at Nora. “If you ever say something like that again Nora, I’ll report you to Goodwitch! Don’t think I won’t!”

“…Spoil sport.”

“Guys, it’s fine!” Jaune said standing up with his tray as Nora sat back down, “I can handle myself. Besides, it’s not like Cardin’s just a jerk to me. He’s a jerk to everyone.”

“Trust me, we’re aware,” Taiyang answered just as a shout of pain came from another table, which was soon shown to be from Velvet getting her ears pulled by Cardin. “I’m not eating this apple by the way.”

“Good to know,” Summer answered picking up the apple.

At the other table, Team CRDL was having a time laughing at Velvet’s pain as Cardin yanked on Velvet’s rabbit ear. “See, I told you they were real!” Cardin said loudly and gave another tug to the ear ignoring Velvet’s pleas.

“What a freak,” Russel commented as he and his team continued laughing, which didn’t last much longer as an apple flew by and smacked Cardin right in the forehead. He yelled in pain and let go of Velvet to grasp his forehead, giving the Faunus the chance to get away. On her way past the table STRQ and JNPR were sitting at she shot a small glare at a standing Summer, who only shook her head at the look.

“You’re welcome!” Summer shouted after Velvet before sitting down again. “Pitiful.”

“I agree,” Pyrrha said scowling in CRDL’s direction and Cardin patting his forehead, “It’s atrocious. I can’t stand people like that.”

“You better get used to that,” Raven said holding up a fry, “and you better get used to people not doing anything to help. What Sum did is the exception rather than the rule, even for us.”

“Doesn’t make it any less…” Pyrrha stopped and glanced at the members of Team STRQ with wide eyes. “Wait, you mean you usually _don’t_ help her? Why, isn’t she your friend?!”

“That’s a strong word to describe her relationship with me. Mutual acquaintance at the very least. There’s no point to helping her anyway.”

“What do you-?”

“To actually answer your question,” Qrow said glaring at his sister out of the corner of his eye, “there’s two words to sum that up: Extremist terrorism. The White Fang is the worst thing to ever happen to the Faunus, next to slavery.”

“For Velvet in particular, it’s a little more complicated,” Summer added, “I don’t know the specifics, but the gist I got is that Velvet’s opinion is ‘If I fight back, it’s just proving the Fang’s point.’ That seems to extend to others helping her out of those situations too. It’s utter bull shit, but… it’s kind of hard to disagree all things considered. The Faunus _have_ been getting better treatment since the Fang got more violent.”

“That doesn’t make it right,” Ren said simply.

“Right and wrong doesn’t matter,” Raven replied shaking her head and popping a fry into her mouth, “not in this world.”

“Oh boy,” Qrow whispered resting his head in his hands, “here we go again.”

“You can disagree all you want Qrow, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m right. Remember?”

“Right… about what?” Jaune asked.

“Oh, you’re still here? That’s good actually, because I get to drop some Branwen wisdom on your naïve asses.”

“Rae,” Summer warned.

“This world runs on one rule, and if you remember it you’ll do fine.”

“And that is?” Nora asked.

“The weak die, the strong survive. Simple as that.” Raven picked up a grape from Qrow’s tray and held it up pinched between her index and thumb as she looked between each of JNPR’s shocked faces. “If you’re strong enough, you can overcome any adversary and conquer any challenge. You can carve your place in the world with a sword in hand and the blood of your enemies trailing behind you. If you’re weak…” Raven looked Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora in the eye as she squashed the grape, “You die. You gain nothing and lose… everything.”

For a split second, Raven looked sad before returning to her normal neutral and she threw the grape onto the table. She crossed her arms as she continued, “There’s no room for the weak in the world. Physically, mentally, socially, it doesn’t matter. _That’s_ why I don’t help Velvet when she gets into that kind of trouble; If you can’t help yourself, why should others bring themselves down to help you?”

“That’s… a very bleak way of looking at the world Raven,” Pyrrha said moving her hands to her lap, “And very narrow. Weakness can be turned into strength if you work to improve on it.”

“Granted, but that needs to be earned yourself. Strength earned through the help of others isn’t strength, it’s a crutch and it will hurt you in the long run.” Raven looked down at her food, shook her head, and stood up. “Consider this a free lesson on how the world works. It doesn’t care who you are or what you have, if you aren’t strong enough it’ll take everything from you and leave you broken and bleeding on the ground. Then you’ll find out whether you’re strong and get up or weak and die.”

“Rae!” Summer said getting up and running after Raven as she left the dining hall, who were followed shortly after by a rather forlorn Jaune, who dumped his entire tray into the garbage before leaving.

“Jeez, what got up her butt?” Nora asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Qrow said sourly and stood up as well. He started rubbing the back of his neck as he said, “In some small way, I do agree with Raven. But it’s still…” he shook his head and sighed as he stuck his hands in his pants pockets and started walking away, “I don’t know.”

“Guys…” Taiyang whispered looking after Qrow worriedly. A few moments of silence filled the area until Nora cleared her throat loudly.

“So… how did your dream end?” she asked with a smile.

“…I don’t give a shit. See you guys later,” Taiyang replied pushing his food tray in before getting up and leaving as well, leaving behind some very worried underclassmen.

“I didn’t… mean to…” Pyrrha started but stopped when Ren put his hand on her shoulder. She started feeling better as she looked over at Ren giving her a comforting look.

“It’s not your fault,” he said simply and squeezed a little harder while Nora leaned across him to grab Pyrrha’s hand, giving the gladiator her own smile and reassuring squeeze.

“Thank you,” Pyrrha replied and squeezed Nora’s hand. _‘Why does helping others have to be so hard?’_

* * *

Pyrrha wouldn’t see any of Team STRQ for a couple of days until they happened to have one of Oobleck’s classes together. With Jaune, Nora, and Ren going to sit on their own somewhere Pyrrha sat with Summer and Qrow, who were killing time before class playing Amity Arena. Pyrrha silently watched the match between the two that ended a minute later with Qrow victorious.

“Huh, guess even I can get lucky on this,” Qrow commented claiming his crates.

“Yup, good job Qrow,” Summer replied shutting her scroll and putting it on the desk in front of her before turning to Pyrrha. “And hello to you too Pyrrha.”

“Oh, hello. You were in the middle of a game so… sorry,” Pyrrha said tapping her fingers on the desk before sighing. “Listen, about the other day…”

“Water under the bridge,” Summer said waving a hand in the air, “if anything we should be apologizing. Raven has a… bleak way of looking at the world, but she has her reasons.”

“And if you’d believe it,” Qrow added putting his scroll down, “she’s actually a lot better now than she used to be. A year can do a lot for a person.” Summer nodded in agreement while Pyrrha clasped her hands together.

“Still, I’m-“

“Don’t apologize,” Summer interrupted, “it’s not your fault you and Raven have clashing world views. You can’t get along with everyone all the time.” Pyrrha was about to apologize, but thought better of it and simply nodded as she took her scroll out and put it down on the desk to look over the classes’ text book. At least until the whirlwind of caffeine fueled energy that was Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck shot into the classroom a few minutes later and started the lesson in a flurry of words.

It took Pyrrha a few minutes to realize what the lesson was about and a few more to get herself caught up to Oobleck’s point. It still amazed her how she retained every bit of information she got in his classes despite how fast he talked. Once she was certain she’d be alright for the lesson Pyrrha couldn’t help but look at where Jaune was sitting to find him asleep, which did nothing to alleviate the worry she had been feeling for her partner.

“And so class it was prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution, also known as the Faunus War, that many people in every kingdom became adamant about localizing the Faunus population in Menagerie,” Oobleck rattled on in between sips of coffee and pointing at the map. “Now! Even though it may seem like ancient history to you students, it’s important to remember that these are relatively recent events with repercussions still being felt to this day. Have any of you ever been subjugated or discriminated against because of your Faunus heritage?”

More than a few Faunus students in the class raised their hands including Velvet in the front row, which got a headshake and a scoff from Summer and Qrow respectively.

“Dreadful, simply dreadful,” Oobleck summed up, “We must all remember that small acts such as these can have far reaching consequences. I mean, just look at what happened to the White Fang.”

 _“Those guys again,”_ Qrow whispered and glanced at Summer, _“that name has been getting around a lot more despite how quiet they’ve been.”_

 _“No kidding,”_ Summer replied, _“I looked up that train attack and found a picture. It looked like something out of a Splatter movie! I’d want to stay quiet and out of the public eye after something like that was attributed to me.”_

“-Turning point of the third year of the war? MISS SUMMER ROSE!” Summer jumped at Oobleck calling her name as he zoomed to the front of the section she sat in, “No whispering in class! Now what is the answer?”

“Um… The Battle of Fort Castle?” Summer guessed with a fake smile. Oobleck stared at her for a moment before zooming back to his desk.

“Correct! Good to know you can pay attention even when not paying attention.” Summer let out a breath of relief as Oobleck continued, “Now, who can tell me what unique advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune’s forces?” Pyrrha noticed Cardin, who was sitting behind the dozing Jaune, flick a small paper ball at Jaune’s head waking him up with a small ‘Hey!’ that caught Oobleck’s attention and he zoomed in front of Jaune.

“Ah, Mr. Arc! Finally taking an interest in class I see! What is the answer?”

“The… answer. Right, the advantage…” Jaune looked past Oobleck at Pyrrha, who was gesturing at her eyes along with Summer while Qrow was yawning, “That they had… was binoculars!”

“Dumb shit,” Qrow muttered while Summer face planted on the desk, Pyrrha face palmed, and the rest of the class laughed.

“Very amusing Mr. Arc,” Oobleck said flatly, “Mr. Winchester maybe you know the answer since you find Mr. Arc’s so entertaining?”

“Well, I know it’s easier to train an animal than a person,” Cardin said with the pompous arrogance only someone like him could have.

“It must have been easy for you to be housebroken then,” Pyrrha said out loud, earning chuckles from the class.

“You got a problem Nikos?!”

“No, I have the answer: Night vision. Almost all Faunus have perfect vision in the dark.”

“Lagune didn’t know that, and that cost him the fight before it even started,” Qrow spoke up, to Summer’s mild shock, “He tried to sneak up on the Faunus while they were asleep. The watchmen saw his force almost immediately and, when they got into the fort, shut the gates behind him and he was captured.” Qrow turned to look at Cardin as he added, “Who knows, maybe if he wasn’t such a racist jackass, he wouldn’t have become the laughingstock he was destined to be.”

“Why you little-!” Cardin said starting to stand up.

“Mr. Winchester, please take your seat,” Oobleck said shooting a look at a smirking Qrow and moving up to a giggling Jaune. “You _and_ Mr. Arc can stay behind for additional lessons.” That stopped Jaune’s laughter and, with another sip of coffee, went back into teacher mode.

“Moving right along, if you look all throughout history you’ll find several incidents like this. One small incident or person’s decision can change the course of the world! Can any of you young scholars think of one other such event?” Oobleck looked around the silent classroom with more than a few students fidgeting slightly. “Anyone at all? It doesn’t have to be about the Faunus Rights Revolution, anything at all.” It was a few seconds later that Summer raised her hand with a determined look. “Miss Summer Rose?”

“The Massacre at Rouge Plains,” she answered, which stilled most of the class and caused a couple of the first years to look at her confused.

“Ah, the largest Grimm attack in known history,” Oobleck explained sadly and took a drink, “I would agree with you, but I’m curious about how you came up with that answer?”

“I’ve been interested in the Great War lately and it just stood out I guess. And besides that, anything related to the Creatures of Grimm and their behavior is something I’ve always been interested in.”

“Indeed. I can’t help but notice that some of you are a little lost on the subject, so allow me to elaborate!” Oobleck zoomed over to the large map of Remnant that he kept on the back wall and smacked his pointer stick on the north east corner of Sanus, partially covered by a study paper of some kind. “During the Great War, the forces of Vale and Vacuo fought against Mistral and Mantle for multiple reasons: territorial disputes, suppression of the arts, among others. During the later days of the war a Vale army led by General Gustav Arc met a combination of Mantle and Mistral forces at what is now called the Rouge Plains.”

Jaune couldn’t help but perk up at the sound of his ancestor and actually started paying attention.

“Now battles during the War followed a particular ebb and flow in how they were fought: the armies would fight and the negative emotions of it would inevitably draw the Creatures of Grimm. The two armies would then join forces to fight off the Grimm before fighting each other again, and so on and so forth until one side emerged victorious. That is how the battle went for the first day until fighting broke for the night.”

Oobleck started zooming around the class as he continued, “In the early hours of the next morning, one of General Arc’s scouts woke him to report a massive horde of Grimm were approaching. General Arc went about the standard procedure of getting his army ready and sending a messenger to the opposing army to inform about the Creatures of Grimm, but by the time his army was ready the horde was upon them.” Oobleck stopped and pointed at Summer when she raised her hand.

“I read General Arc’s publicly released memoirs and when he described this horde as ‘an army, numbering in the several thousands.’ Would you agree with that use of words?”

“I would disagree with the use of ‘army’ because that implies organization, but the size is about right. Modern estimates place the Rouge Horde at around 10,000. Both armies were caught off guard by the horde, with only Vale being slightly prepared for it thanks to the advance warning.”

“Why, they’re just Grimm,” Cardin said putting is feet up on his desk, “Shouldn’t it be easy for two armies to take care of?”

“Says a man who’s never faced down a horde of Grimm before,” Summer said glaring at Cardin, Pyrrha shrinking a little at how _angry_ it looked, “why don’t you keep your mouth shut about things you don’t know ok?”

“Hey, that’s-!”

“Let me paint a picture for you Cardin,” Summer interrupted standing up. She ignored Oobleck’s protests as she walked down the row toward Cardin. “Imagine that you’re in the middle of a field surrounded by forest, only you and your team. Civilization is miles away in every direction, so you’re isolated from help of any kind. And then, out from the trees, you see them come out. Beowolves, Ursai, the Creatures of Grimm are on you.”

Summer reached Cardin’s desk and put her hands down on it, her eyes locking with his as he took his feet of the desk. “At first it’s just one, then two or three, and then it’s dozens at a time pouring out of the trees and charging at you. You can fight naturally, but no matter how many you kill there’s always another one to take its place.” She leaned in closer to Cardin, who was getting more and more unnerved by the silver eyed girl. “Just imagine being surrounded by that: the black fur, the bony white masks, the fangs dripping with spittle and razor sharp claws. And no matter how fast or strong you are, all it takes is one. Good. Tag. And then you’re-“

“MISS SUMMER ROSE!” Oobleck shouted and slammed a coffee mug on his desk hard enough to get the girl’s attention. “That is quite enough,” he said harshly once Summer looked at him.

“…Right, sorry Doctor,” Summer said standing up straight and clearing her throat. “In any case, that’s _my_ experience with a horde of Grimm and it was only about a hundred strong. The only reason that my team is alive today is because of a _supreme_ stroke of good luck.” Summer started making her way back to her seat and glanced down at Velvet, who was staring up at her with a look of understanding. She sat down and looked back over at Cardin. “Now imagine you’re one of those poor souls at Rouge Plains. Back then Mantle was the only kingdom to have Dust weaponry in any decent supply, so if you’re a Mantle soldier you would probably have an assault rifle. Everyone else had to make do with the standard weaponry at the time. It wouldn’t have just been Beowolves and Ursai either, there would have been larger Grimm too.”

Summer shook her head and closed her eyes, Pyrrha noticing that she was shaking slightly. “Never underestimate Grimm. It’s called a massacre for a reason.”

“…Indeed,” Oobleck said getting the classes attention. “The armies at Rouge Plains numbered 15,000 combined, maybe a little less given the day of fighting before the horde arrived. However due to the timing of the attack, they were almost entirely unprepared for fighting the horde. General Arc led a charge to group up with the Mistral-Mantle forces, which many historians believe to be the sole reason _anyone_ walked off that field. I disagree with it being the _sole_ reason, but it is a major contributing factor.

“At the end of the fighting the horde was successfully broken and scattered, but at a high price. 15,000 soldiers walked onto that field, and only 3,000 left it. Those who survived were indeed very lucky. As Miss Rose suggested, this was indeed a major turning point in the Great War; grand battles of this size never happened again due to a fear of attracting another Grimm horde of that size, though thankfully another one of that size never appeared. Smaller battles relying on hit and run tactics became more commonplace, eventually culminating in the Vacuo campaign that ended the Great War.”

The bell rang and Oobleck looked at the wall clock. “Well it seems class is over! Aside from those I’ve mentioned earlier you are free to go! However I would like to propose a thought experiment: imagine what would have happened if any of what we discussed today hadn’t happened the way they did. What if General Lagune hadn’t been captured, what if the Rouge horde had went a different direction? Write a short essay about your thoughts on the matter and turn it in next class. You are dismissed!”

Everyone started getting up and leaving, Pyrrha having to be tapped on the shoulder by Summer to get her eyes off Jaune so she could get up and follow her upperclassmen. They had started passing Oobleck’s desk when Summer snapped her fingers and turned to him.

“Doctor Oobleck,” she said getting the teacher’s attention, “there’s actually something else I wanted to ask you about Rouge Plains. But if you’re too busy-“

“Nonsense!” Oobleck said smiling and adjusting his glasses, “I’m always ready to stoke the fires of knowledge in my students! If you can wait until after I’m done with Mr. Arc and Winchester I’ll be happy to answer!”

“I’ll wait outside then,” Summer nodded and left the classroom with Qrow with Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren right in front of them.

“You guys go on ahead,” Pyrrha said to Ren and Nora, “I’ll wait here for Jaune.”

“Are you sure?” Nora asked tilting her head, to which Pyrrha nodded. “Ok, we’ll see you back at the dorm.”

“You go on too Qrow,” Summer told her teammate as she watched Nora skip away with Ren behind her.

“You won’t hear me complain,” Qrow said rolling his neck, “classes are so dull. What do you want to ask Oobleck?” Summer quietly pulled out her scroll and tapped it a few times before showing Qrow the screen, making sure that Pyrrha couldn’t see it. After a second Qrow’s eyes widened and he nodded. “You really think he’ll have something to say about that?”

“Only one way to find out.” Qrow nodded and started leaving in his usual slouch. “Oh, and tell Rae not to order anything! I’m making dinner tonight and it’ll be one of her favorites!”

“Got it,” Qrow called back giving a thumbs up. Pyrrha moved to lean on the wall next to Summer as she pulled out her scroll to check a news site.

“So… what does Raven like to eat?” Pyrrha asked.

“You’re not going to get Raven to change her mind by feeding her good food,” Summer said and shook her head with a sigh. “I should know. She still won’t agree to another Girl’s Night Out with me no matter what.”

“I-I know,” Pyrrha started wringing her hands, “I just… wait, what?”

“What?”

“What do you mean ‘Girl’s Night Out’?”

“Oh Pyrrha, you sweet summer child,” Summer said closing her scroll and putting a hand on Pyrrha’s shoulder, “Fine, I’ll explain. Let’s start with a quick list of my favorite hangout spots Downtown!”

* * *

“The two of you have been struggling in my class for quite some time now,” Oobleck told both Jaune and Cardin, who had both moved to one of the front row seats. “Now I don’t know if it’s arrogance on your part, or simply a lack of interest in the subject, but whatever it is _it stops now._

“You were both accepted into one of the best academies for a reason, so it’s about time you both started acting like it. History can teach all sorts of lessons, as I’m sure you’ve learned today, but you have to be _willing_ to learn from it. Because I can tell you one lesson _everyone_ learns eventually gentlemen; if you don’t learn from history, you’re destined to repeat it. Pages 51 through 59, I want an essay from both of you by next class. Now run along!” Oobleck then shot out of the classroom stopping right next to Summer and Pyrrha. He took a drink of coffee and was about to say something when-

“That’s ok Summer, I don’t want to know what a soap land is!” Pyrrha’s exclamation nearly caused Oobleck to spit his coffee over his students, though he managed to bring it down to only choking on it.

“To be fair, I don’t know what it is either,” Summer replied sounding offended, “There just happens to be one close to a café I like to go to. It’s a cat café, you’ll love it!”

“This conversation is over, I don’t want to go! Oh Professor Oobleck, so nice of you to show up!” Pyrrha laughed nervously as Summer turned to notice Oobleck as he recovered and Jaune standing in the class door watching them in confusion.

“I’m just going to assume your… conversation was entirely on the level girls,” Oobleck said somehow keeping his normal academic tone, though a hint of annoyance crept in when he added, “And it’s _DOCTOR._ I didn’t earn the PHD for fun, thank you very much. Now about your question Miss Rose?”

“After you,” Summer said gesturing back to the classroom. Oobleck nodded and zoomed back into the classroom, narrowly avoiding Jaune and Cardin just as the latter flat out shoved Jaune onto the floor before walking away. “Karma’s a wheel you know!” Summer shouted at Cardin, who waved her off as he turned a corner.

“I seriously will break his legs,” Pyrrha commented helping Jaune up.

“Pyrrha…”

“It’s fine, really,” Jaune said once he was up on his feet, sounding more than a little miserable. Pyrrha looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding and grabbing both of Jaune’s hands.

“There’s somewhere I want to show you,” Pyrrha said before dragging Jaune away, the poor boy flailing behind her until they disappeared around a corner.

 _‘Everyone’s getting dragged around nowadays. Well, whatever,’_ Summer thought with a shrug before walking back into Oobleck’s classroom, finding the teacher standing next to his desk pouring _more_ coffee into the multitude of cups and mugs on the desk. “Doctor?”

“Ah Miss Rose, glad to see you wrapped up your conversation successfully! So, what is your question?”

“It’s more like I wanted your opinion on something I read about the Rouge Plains. May I have a cup?” Oobleck nodded and Summer picked up one of the paper cups and pulled out her scroll to open a text. “I already said how I was reading Gustav Arc’s memoirs which is what brought the Rouge Plains to my attention in the first place.”

“I’ve read his memoirs myself,” Oobleck nodded, “they’re very interesting, but I would advise against treating one source of information of an event as complete fact.”

“Naturally. Here it is.” Summer took a quick drink and highlighted a section of text before handing it over to Oobleck. “This is what I wanted to ask you about. It stuck with me ever since I read it.” Oobleck took the scroll and, after a drink of coffee, read the passage out loud.

 _“In the middle of the clamor of battle and the cries of the monsters, I saw a rider approaching in the middle of the horde. From the way it looked atop it’s Grimm mount giving commands I knew deep in my gut that it was no friend of man. As custom dictates I challenged it to single combat, which it agreed to much to my surprise. With a scythe as its weapon it charged at me; the melee was brutal and I still needed to tend to my men while fighting it off, but in the end I emerged victorious when I plunged my blade into its chest.”_ Oobleck silently quirked an eyebrow and closed the scroll to hand back to Summer. “Interesting.”

“So you think he was telling the truth?” Summer asked putting her scroll away. “About the rider. He doesn’t go into detail about it there or anywhere else in his memoirs, but I can only assume from his wording that… well, it was humanoid. What do you think?”

“The likelihood of that is incredibly small Miss Rose, even you should know that,” Oobleck replied taking a drink and setting the mug down. “General Arc was a great man in many ways, but he was a soldier above all else. With all due respect, soldiers tend to fluff up their own exploits to make for better stories, something I’m sure both of us are guilty of as well.”

“Fair enough,” Summer shrugged and drained the cup before setting it down. “So what do you think he saw there?”

“My personal opinion? Do you know the Nuckelavee of Mistral?” Summer nodded. “A rather unique Grimm, resembling a horse and rider from witness accounts. It’s unknown if other, similar Grimm exist, but the simple fact that it does exist means the possibility of others like it having existed is there. I believe General Arc saw a Grimm like that and the fatigue and adrenaline of the fight caused him to see something that wasn’t there. The rest, as I said, is fluff to make for a better story.”

“…But you _did_ say that he might have been telling the truth.”

“Every theory is plausible Miss Rose, especially when it comes to events that happened nearly a century ago. As scholars, it’s up to us to take all the knowledge of these events that we have and form our own theories that best fit them.”

“That makes sense, and it’s always good to hear other people’s ideas. I believe that’s everything I wanted to ask, so I’ll let you go Prof… Doctor.”

“No trouble at all! And remember the assignment!” Oobleck said before disappearing out of the room in a blur, a few papers following after him in the breeze. Summer stared after him for a moment before rubbing her chin in thought.

“So he didn’t know. I guess the Generals are just as much of a secret as Oz said. I need to be more careful about that topic from now on.” Summer started leaving the classroom and, once she was outside, smiled lightly and nodded to herself. “Still, I believe I learned something good today.”

* * *

A few weeks ago, Pyrrha found a nice little spot on the dorm rooftop that was perfect for helping her clear her mind from any ill events of the day. Just like every other night she came here the stars were out and shining clearly in the sky with barely any of the academy’s light blotting them out. She brought Jaune here for hopefully the same purpose, that he would look up and find the same kind of serenity that she always found and let his troubles fade away.

She was wrong.

“Uh Pyrrha? I know I’ve been a little depressed lately, but I’m not _that_ depressed.” Pyrrha blinked at Jaune’s words and looked at him to find him looking over the edge of the rooftop. She looked between him and over the edge and slowly pieced together his thought process. “I mean if I’m not cut out for this, I can always be a farmer or a stay at home dad or… something.”

“No!” she yelped and dragged Jaune away from the edge by the arm. Once he was far enough away she let him go and said, “Please don’t do that!”

“Hey that’s not fair Pyrrha, being a stay at home dad is a noble thing to do!”

“That’s not what I mean!” Pyrrha rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to face palm at Jaune’s density. She took a breath to calm herself and said, “Jaune, I know you’ve been struggling in class lately. I just wanted you to know that if you need a little help I’m here for you.”

“That’s…” Jaune started before shaking his head, “That’s ok, I don’t need it.”

“I know it’s hard to ask for help, but it’s ok. Everyone needs a little push from time to time.” Pyrrha started pacing a little around the roof and gestured around her, barely sparing a glance at a crow that landed on a nearby A/C unit to watch them. “Just look at where you’re at now. You made it into Beacon Academy! That speaks volumes of what you’re capable of!” When Pyrrha looked back at Jaune she found her words had the exact opposite effect of what she wanted, if the way he was cringing and looking guilty meant anything.

“You’re wrong,” he finally said turning away from her and looking up at the Shattered Moon behind Beacon Tower.

“What do you-?”

“I don’t belong here and every day that passes makes that all the more clear. I never went to a prep school or got any formal training but I still wanted to be a Huntsman.” Jaune turned back to Pyrrha, “So I stole my family’s sword, got some false papers, and lied.”

Pyrrha, wide eyed at the turn the conversation was going, could only stammer out, “But… why would-“

“Because this is what I’ve always wanted to be!” Jaune answered turning around again, “My father, grandfather, and his father were all heroes! I wanted to be one too, but I was never good enough for that.”

“Jaune,” Pyrrha started, briefly wondering what to say before settling her expression and walking to Jaune and reaching out to gently hold his arm. “That’s not true. If you just let me help you, you-“

“I don’t want help, don’t you get it!” Jaune suddenly yelled pulling away from Pyrrha and causing her to step away from him. She would have taken a few more if she hadn’t seen that he was more sad than angry. “I’m tired of being the guy who always needs help! I’m tired of being the useless idiot stuck in a tree while his friends fight for their lives!

“Raven was right. I can’t get stronger or better if I’m constantly relying on others for help, because if I do I’ll just drag you guys down with me! And if I can’t then what good am I?” Pyrrha, unsure of how to respond, tried to take a step toward Jaune who flinched back from her and looked away. “Just leave me alone.”

Pyrrha kept her hand up for a second before lowering it and turning around. “If that’s what you really want,” she said flatly and started walking to the door. The crow cawed at her, to which she responded with a shape glare before she opened the door and left the rooftop. Jaune took a breath and started to leave as well.

“So, I couldn’t help but overhear that.”

 _‘Oh crap,’_ Jaune thought recognizing the voice and looked behind him to see Cardin climbing over the edge of the rooftop. _‘Wait, where was he…? Never mind, bigger problems.’_ “Cardin, what are you-“

“I have to admit Jaune,” Cardin interrupted as he walked over to Jaune, “I didn’t expect you to be capable of much, but sneaking into Beacon and keeping a secret for so long? That’s interesting.”

“Please Cardin, don’t tell anyone!” _‘Just my luck! Of all people to overhear that, why him?!’_

“Oh Jaune, I wouldn’t tell anyone. Especially since we’re friends.”

“F-friends?” Jaune asked feeling goosebumps creep over his skin.

“Yeah Jaune, we’re friends now,” Cardin replied dragging Jaune into a headlock, “and as far as I’m concerned, I got your back as long as you have mine, got it?”

_‘Crap.’_

“Having said that, I really don’t have the time to do the extra assignments that Oobleck assigned me. So why don’t you take care of that for me?” Cardin let Jaune go and let him drop to the ground while he walked back to the edge he climbed up from. “Thanks so much Jaune, this’ll be a great friendship,” he said just as he started lowering himself back down over the edge.

And promptly found himself stuck hanging on the ledge because the window was closed.

“Crap! Idiots, open the window!” Cardin said trying and failing to tap on the window with his foot. “Hey Jaune, you’re still up there right? Help me up!”

Jaune, still a little thrown from everything that had happened, could only really watch as the crow flew over to where Cardin was hanging, landed near his fingers and looked at them with great interest.

“What was that? Jauney boy, is that-“ the crow interrupted Cardin by pecking at his fingers. “OW! What was that?!” Peck. “OW! Stop that!” Naturally a crow cares little for that kind of plea, so it continued to peck at his fingers until the one hand let go of the edge and it started pecking the other. “Seriously, I’m losing my- AH!” Cardin let go and fell the three floors with a crack of wood echoing along with his screams.

Jaune, naturally, let out a yelp and rushed to the edge of the roof, scaring the crow out of the way, and looked over the edge down at Cardin. “He’s… ok?”

“I’m ok!” Cardin shouted after he stood up rubbing his back. “I… may have broken a tree branch on the way down but I’m ok, no thanks to you Jaune!”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP, WE’RE TRYING TO SLEEP IN HERE!” Someone suddenly shouted leaning out a window and looking down at Cardin.

“Screw you, I just fell off a roof!”

“Oh boo hoo. Let me give you something to make you feel better!” The boy leaned back inside and reappeared a second later to dump a big container of orange drink on Cardin.

“Gah!” Cardin shouted and tried to shake the drink out of his school uniform. “I’m going to get you for that!”

“I’d like to see you try bitch! Marigold for life!” The boy retreated back inside and closed the window, leaving Cardin to growl and trudge back inside.

 _‘Well… that happened,’_ Jaune thought and sighed and moved to sit away from the edge. The crow cawed at him and Jaune glared and waved the bird away. “Shoo, you’re not helping!” he said and was thankful that the crow flew away with another caw. With that done Jaune pressed his hands into his face and groaned. “I’m so screwed. What am I going to do?”

* * *

“And then the two of you delivered an uppercut at the same time to the Mistral General, knocking him out and saving the kingdom! And you did all of it in the finery of wedding dresses.” Taiyang gave both Summer and Raven finger guns and a quick “Eh?” as he waited for their reactions.

“You know, disregarding how it took you days to finish that story,” Raven said stirring the meatballs on her plate, “it was definitely worth the wait. It went a whole lot better than your dreams usually go.”

“The showtune in the middle was a bit over the top though,” Summer said and took a bite of meatball.

“Hey, I can’t control how my dreams go,” Taiyang defended picking up his plate and sitting on his bed. “In my defense, I really do think you have killer singing voices.” Taiyang stabbed a meatball with his fork and motioned around the room with it as he asked, “Where’s Qrow? I think he would have loved that story.”

“He said he was getting some exercise,” Raven said through a mouthful of food, “whatever that means.” A soft ‘thunk’ and caw sounded through the room and the trio looked at the window in time to see a crow slide down the glass out of sight. “Oh, there he is.”

“Oh my god!” Summer shouted setting her plate down and rushing to the window to open it. No sooner had she done it and looked outside did the crow come back and land on the window sill to look at Summer with the closest a bird could to a glare. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know you were out there, so-“

The crow cawed at her and flew into the room before setting down on the floor so Qrow could rub his face. “It’s fine. It’s not the worst thing that’s happened to me while out and about. Is that plate mine?”

“No, that’s mine. Here’s yours,” Summer said grabbing a full plate from the table she was standing next to and held it out to Qrow, who took it with a nod and walked to sit next to Taiyang as Summer returned to her spot next to Raven. “So how’s ‘recon mode’ treating you? See anything good?”

“It’s going ok, still getting used to it. Did see a couple of things, but they’re not really our problem.” Qrow lifted a meatball up and inspected it for a second before biting it and giving Summer a thumbs up. “Good as always. So how’d that thing with Oobleck go?”

“Swallow before you talk Qrow, and it went fine.”

“You going to elaborate or…?” Raven said gesturing at Summer with her fork.

“Gustav Arc fought a Grimm General and won, and not just any one either. Pardon the pun, but it would seem the good General Arc stared Death in the face and walked away from it.”

“No shit! Guess you don’t get sole survivor credit anymore Sum,” Raven said getting up to sit crossed legged, “So that means they can be killed!”

“Or beaten at the very least,” Taiyang corrected and scratched his chin, “but I can’t imagine that it was easy in any case. You’d either have to be really strong or plan a lot in advance.”

“I agree, but it’s still something to keep in mind in case we meet one.” Summer ate her last meatball and set her empty plate and lay down with a sigh. “But that’s all future problems. We got plenty to deal with right now.”

“Less than a month of remedial classes left,” Qrow said with a sigh, “but we can do this. It’s not the hardest thing we’ve had to do.”

“I hate that that’s true,” Raven said shaking her head, “but we just gotta keep on pushing. That’ll be a piece of cake.”

“Yup. What’s the worst that could happen?” Taiyang asked.

“Please don’t say that!”


	14. Of Pranks and Forests pt. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to mention this, but every time I have a two part chapter they'll be updated over the course of two days.

“What do you mean none of you closed the window!?” Cardin asked glaring down at his teammates.

“Cardin, I swear none of us closed it. Sky and I weren’t even in the room!” Russel said holding his hands up and Sky nodded in agreement. Cardin looked at Dove, who raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

“I was in the shower, you know that,” he said and returned to eating his breakfast.

“So you’re telling me that the window shut and locked itself, which led to me falling off the roof and breaking my ass on a tree branch, through sheer bad luck?” Russel and Sky both shrugged and Cardin sighed in frustration, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands for a moment before sitting straight and waving it away with a small smirk. “Well whatever, I’m not going to let something like that get me down today. Especially after the _good_ things that happened last night.”

“What do you mean?” Sky asked.

“I’ll tell you guys later, but trust me it’s good. I got a couple of ideas for what we can do now.”

“I WILL NOT LOSE TO YOU SUMMER!” The shout drew Cardin’s attention a ways down the tables to where Team STRQ was sitting, where Summer and Raven were engaged in some kind of children’s game of clapping their hands together while Taiyang watched in amusement and Qrow focused more on his food.

“Watch your rhythm Raven,” Summer said keeping an eye on Raven’s face twisted in concentration, “it’s important.”

“DON’T DISTRACT ME!”

“I still don’t understand how _they_ are our upperclassmen,” Russel said gesturing at the girls, “I mean seriously?”

“I heard they were supposed to be some kind of hardcore badasses,” Dove said with a shrug, “but I’m not seeing it.”

“They piss me off, and that apple really hurt,” Cardin said shaking his head, “But don’t worry, they’ll get theirs soon enough.” With that he resumed watching Summer and Raven’s weird game which only came to an end when Raven barely missed one of Summer’s hands.

“I win Rae,” Summer said with a smile while her partner pounded a fist on the table with a shout of “Dammit!” No doubt Raven would have continued pounding the table until there was a hole in it if it weren’t for Coco clearing her throat behind them to get their attention to her and her team.

“I would ask what you guys were just doing, but I can probably guess,” she said and gestured at the table. “It ok for us to sit here?”

“Sure,” Taiyang said with a wave as CFVY sat down next to Summer. “We haven’t seen you guys around in a while.”

“Oh we’ve been around, but you guys have been too busy playing the good upperclassmen to Team JNPR. You aren’t doing that today?”

“They have some dumb drama going on and we don’t want any part of it,” Qrow explained as he took apart a sandwich for anything he didn’t want. “God I hate pickles.”

“But knowing your luck you will get involved somehow,” Velvet said, which got tired nods from STRQ. Velvet clapped her hands together, grinned slightly, and said, “So I think I figured out your airship story thanks to what happened yesterday.”

“Oh did you?” Raven asked resting her head on one of her hands, her eyes half closed from boredom.

“Mhmm, and honestly I don’t blame you for keeping quiet about it if it ended with you surrounded by a Grimm horde. A hundred strong, is that what you said?”

“Yup,” Taiyang said stretching his hands over his head, “And honestly I don’t really remember some of it. Rae and I got knocked out at some point and woke up in the infirmary.”

“In the middle of a Grimm horde,” Yatsuhashi said shaking his head, “Most Huntsman would have trouble fully conscious. How did you survive that?”

“Luck worked in our favor for once,” Qrow said looking at Summer with a smirk, “And our ‘radiant’ leader showed off her chops.”

“Don’t oversell me,” Summer said shaking her head, “I didn’t do much.”

“And yet, I somehow believe quite the opposite,” Coco said tilting her glasses down a little to meet Summer’s eyes. “And let me guess, what you did is a secret?”

“Kind of, not really,” Summer said shaking her hands in a ‘maybe’ gesture.

“Then I’ll assume it’s some kind of ninja technique and move on with my life.”

“Close enough I guess.”

“And the airship crash?” Fox asked.

“That’s a story in itself. Short version is the Grimm don’t care who you are or if you called them, Huntsman or Mafia Don.”

“No way.”

“Yes way, and he brought that trouble on himself,” Qrow said and pointed at Velvet with his now pickle free sandwich, “And speaking of trouble, you still having any your way Velvet?”

“I’m fine,” she replied soberly looking down at her food.

“Winchester again?” Coco asked looking at Velvet, a distinct edge now in her voice.

“I said I’m fine!”

“I know that, but I hope you also know that we all have your back if you need it.” Coco glanced at Yatsuhashi and Fox, who both nodded in agreement, and then looked at STRQ holding her fingers up in a pinching motion. “I’m seriously this close to doing something about Cardin anyway.”

“Coco…”

“Maybe we should do something,” Taiyang said looking at where Cardin was seated. _‘The hell’s he looking at us for?’_

“TAI!”

“I’m serious. That kind of behavior isn’t good coming from kids and even more so for Huntsman. If it isn’t curbed soon, someone _will_ get hurt.”

“Bullying doesn’t belong in a place where even simple spars could end in serious injury,” Fox agreed.

“And it would be a good way to kill some time,” Raven added collapsing onto the table with her head in her arms. “These damn remedial lessons man, it’s sucking the soul right out of me.”

“So glad I paid attention in class,” Yatsuhashi said with a small smirk.

“Fuck you Yats.”

“In any case,” Summer said shaking her head at Raven, “while I agree Cardin needs to be dealt with, I can’t think of a way to do something about it without getting in trouble ourselves. I would say leave it to the staff, but they can’t do anything about what they can’t see.”

“True enough,” Coco agreed with a shrug. “I gotta say, you certainly calmed down since last year. You used to get pissed off at everything.”

“And I remember when you hated me on principle,” Summer said, sharing a small smile with Coco, “and I’ll have you know I’ve always been calm. It takes a lot to make me mad.”

Suddenly a muffin hit Summer on the side of the head (ineffectually, it might as well have made a squeaking sound on impact) and bounced onto the table in between her and Raven while someone was chuckling in the distance. Taiyang and Qrow stared at the muffin in confusion, along with most of CFVY, and Raven shook her head in annoyance.

“A muffin? You think people trying to start something would at least use something hard, right Sum?” An almost deafening silence from next to her slowly drew her attention to her partner, along with most everyone else, as Summer slowly reached for the muffin and picked it up. She sat for a moment glaring a hole into the muffin.

“Uh… Sum?” Qrow asked tilting his head, “You ok?”

That question was answered when Summer jumped to her feet and bellowed “WHO’S RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS!?” loud enough to echo through the dining hall and causing Fox, Velvet, and a few other Faunus students who were close by to cover their ears (the ones that had them at least) and drew the attention of most of the other students.

“Careful with the shouting!” Coco said rubbing her ear and earning a glare from Summer, “and I saw Cardin throw it, for what it’s worth.” Summer’s head snapped and her glare focused on the leader of Team CRDL, who had the good sense to face his team and try to look innocent even if he still looked like a deer caught in headlights.

“S-so, those essays are kinda crazy huh?” Cardin said nervously.

“We don’t have any essays right now,” Dove said.

“ _Shut up stupid and follow along!”_ Cardin whispered harshly just a flurry of white petals shot past him and someone grabbed his tray and flipped it away scattering the food all over the table. Cardin stood up and started saying, “What gives!?” as he turned around only to suddenly find himself knocked backwards onto the table and heard his team jump away from him. A knee jabbed into his stomach and his head pulled up by his uniform’s tie until he was eye to eye with a _very_ pissed off Summer radiating malice and rose petals.

“Summer!”

“Ah shit!”

“Kick his ass!”

“You think you’re a big dog Winchester?” Summer asked glaring right into Cardin’s eyes, the hardness killing any reply from the boy. “You think you’re hot shit!? Guess what, you’re wrong!” She pulled Cardin’s tie just a little more and she bared her teeth as she said, “I’ve tolerated a lot of your bull shit over the last couple of months; the blatant idiocy, the bullying and tormenting my friends, your _awful fucking cologne_ , but _THIS_ ,” Summer held up the offending muffin, “picking a fight with me!? THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE!”

“You go girl!” Raven shouted as Summer shoved the muffin into Cardin’s mouth, grabbed him by the collar of his uniform jacket, and pulled him up closer to her face.

“If you want to be a big fish, be ready to fight sharks, but we’re _far_ worse than you’ll ever be. I hope you enjoyed your days of peace Cardin, because they’ll be the last you’ll _ever_ have!” Summer let Cardin go, letting him fall to the table and spit out the muffin, and hopped off the bench she was standing on and walked the few steps to her team that had been standing ready to pull her off him if need be.

“You ok now Sum?” Taiyang asked.

“NO! I’m pissed off!” she replied and pointed at each of her teammates and back at Cardin, “You three are off the leash! He’s your target! Have fun.” Summer then pushed her way past Taiyang and Qrow, who stared at her in shock, and Raven who seemed a little confused.

“Seriously?” Raven asked.

“Yes!” Summer replied with a wave. Raven looked at Qrow and Taiyang and, after taking a few seconds to absorb what happened, each shared a mischievous smile and followed after their leader.

“Oh no…” Velvet said watching STRQ leave, which the rest of her team nodded in agreement to.

“The hell was all that?” Cardin said sitting up and watching Summer, though a sudden clanging of metal being dropped drew his attention to a nearby Team MRGD, the leader of whom was the one who dropped the tray.

“R-Redd, you heard that right?” she asked, her hands still shaking.

“Yup,” she replied, her body a little _too_ still all things considered.

“That’s what I thought,” Maribelle nodded before screaming, “STRQ’S GOING TO THE MATRESSES!” The words echoed through the hall for a moment before it was quiet again.

Then chaos. The majority of the students started screaming and shouting as they started running out of the dining hall, more than a few dropping trays and spilling food on the floor. “What happened!? Why are they on the warpath!?” one of them shouted.

“Cardin provoked them!” Maribelle shouted in reply, pointing at him as her team carried her away.

“GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!” A third year that had been running by shouted and dove over a table to get away from Cardin. Soon the hall was emptied, save for a bunch of confused first years and CFVY, with only one last cry of “Oh god, the east dorms _still_ smell from last year!” to fill the air as the stampeding students left. The first years started whispering among themselves as Coco started laughing and looked at Cardin as she stood up.

“You know, I would feel sorry for you guys, but I don’t. I guess that punishment I thought of won’t be necessary.” Coco continued chuckling as she waved at her team and started walking out of the dining hall, Fox and Yatsuhashi doing so silently. Velvet looked back at Cardin, their eyes meeting for a split second, before she pulled her lower eyelid down with her middle finger and stuck her tongue out at him and continued after her team.

“Um… you ok Cardin?” Sky asked leaning over the table at Cardin.

“…Yeah, I’m fine,” Cardin said brushing off his uniform sleeves. “Sure squirt, let’s see how ‘worse’ you are.”

“Yeesh,” Nora said still holding the tray she had barely gotten when that all happened, Ren and Pyrrha next to her. “All that over a muffin? Some people.”

“Agreed,” Ren said shaking his head and led the way to a table. Pyrrha simply sighed and followed her teammates, suddenly finding her appetite gone.

* * *

“Alright guys,” Raven said turning on the lights in a secret meeting room, Qrow and Taiyang sat at a small table in the middle of the room watching her, “I hope you guys are ready for this, because this has been a long time coming. Free reign to do what we want and a clear target, what more could we want?”

“Unlimited food from Simple Wok?” Taiyang asked.

“…Well, yeah, but let’s focus on what we _need_ and not what we _want_. So let’s go round table and see what we come up with. Let’s start with you Tai.”

“Why not start small and put a tack on his seat or something?”

“Lame,” Qrow replied sinking his head into his arms.

“Agreed,” Raven said crossing her arms into an X, “We’ll never get a chance like this again and you want to start small? Think bigger!”

“I’ll need a minute then.”

Raven sighed and looked at her brother. “You got any ideas that are worthwhile Qrow?”

“I’ve been kicking one around for a while. You got a pen and paper?” Raven knelt down for a moment before coming back up with a book of sketch paper and a pencil and held them out to Qrow. He took them, opened the sketch book on the table, and started drawing out his idea. “Here’s what I was thinking.”

* * *

“Nice work Jaune,” Cardin said nodding at the essay in his hands, “you can barely tell I didn’t write this. I knew this friendship would work out for the both of us.”

“Right,” Jaune said quietly as Cardin stowed the essay in his jacket and wrapped an arm around his shoulders and started leading him down the hall to the stairs.

“Don’t be like that Jaune. Come on, let’s get some drinks. Your treat.”

“Whatever.” Jaune looked up from the floor to see Summer and Qrow walking up the stairs mid discussion.

“A hot dog is _not_ a sandwich Qrow,” Summer said shaking her head in disgust.

“It’s a collection of ingredients encased in bread. That’s what a sandwich is!” Qrow defended just as they passed Cardin and Jaune. Once they were past Qrow quickly spun around and slapped Cardin’s back, startling the first year, before settling back into his stride and going back to his discussion. “Next you’ll say gyros aren’t a sandwich.”

“That’s a whole other discussion.”

“What was that about?” Cardin wondered watching the pair.

“He put something on your back,” Jaune pointed out trying not to smile.

“What?” Cardin started reaching behind him, barely noticing Raven drag a laundry cart to the top of the stairs before walking away to lean against a wall stretching her arms over her head. After a moment Cardin got a hold of something and took it off his back. When he looked at it his confusion turned to annoyance when he saw it was a simple ‘kick me’ sign with ‘dummy’ written on it with an arrow pointing at a crude drawing of him. He shook his head and started to turn around. “Seriously? You guys need to try harder than-“

He stopped and his eyes widened when he saw Taiyang sprinting at him with a manic grin before jumping and drop kicking Cardin in the chest, the small kick of his semblance enough to send Cardin flying backwards. Jaune watched in surprise and Raven with a smug smirk as Cardin screamed through the air and into the laundry cart, which was when Raven rushed and kicked the slightly rolling cart down the stairs.

The cart, carrying a screaming Cardin, bounced down the stairs with a couple students jumping out of its way on the way down. Somehow it made it to the first landing without falling over and rode an improvised ramp that turned it around and sent down the other set of stairs. Halfway down _that_ it did catch on a step and launched Cardin out of it, through the air, and face first into a kiddy pool filled with honey at the bottom that had been surrounded by confused students a few moments before. Cardin pushed himself out of the sticky substance and stood up, trying to wipe the honey off his face when he heard a whistle above him. Like a fool he looked up in time to see Qrow push a bag off the railing and onto his head, which exploded in a burst of feathers that covered him head to toe.

If Cardin could have gotten away with not taking the bag off his head in order to avoid the looks and laughter of the students around him, he would have. No such luck, so he tore it off and threw the bag at his feet and looked up at the culprits, who were laughing just as hard as the others.

“Now you look like how you are on the inside!” Taiyang howled leaning against the railing.

“Good luck going to class like that shithead!” Raven called as Cardin stormed out of the honey, through the crowd that parted for him, and down the hall away from the scene. Once the center of attention was gone the students quieted down and started heading their own ways, Raven, Qrow, and Taiyang among them. The three of them gave a short wave to Jaune on their way out. The first year returned the wave and watched them leave for a moment before looking over the railing at the kiddy pool.

“Where’d they get all that honey?” Jaune wondered aloud.

“Wouldn’t you like to know!”

Cardin would later find that the essay in his jacket got covered with honey.

* * *

“That’s sounds like fun,” Raven said once Qrow finished explaining his idea, but shook her head a little and said, “It’d take a good deal of prep work though.”

“Like we’ve been bad at that,” Qrow responded, which Raven shrugged in agreement to, and looked at Taiyang. “So you think of anything?”

“I’m no good at these complex pranks,” Taiyang replied shaking his head, “Can’t I just do something simple?”

“Simple and big are not mutually exclusive,” Raven said stretching her arms to her side, “I don’t care what you come up with, as long as it’s big.” Taiyang sank down and buried his head in his arms, groaning into them for a solid few seconds.

“If we still had some of those stink bombs I could use those.”

“Yup, it really is too bad that Glynda confiscated the rest we had after the laundry room,” Raven said before smirking and polishing the knuckles of her right hand on her chest, “that is unless some clever bitch thought that far ahead and hid a few of them around the school. Eh?”

“How did-?” Taiyang started before shaking his head, “no never mind, I’m fine not knowing how or when you did that. Spare a couple?”

“If you tell me what you need them for,” Raven said cocking an eyebrow.

“Well… I just need you to move them somewhere else really.”

* * *

Cardin was still getting snickers from the students after what happened yesterday, though he barely managed to avoid getting in trouble for missing that essay. It was still baffling that ‘my homework got covered in honey’ was not an unusual occurrence here. Still Cardin wasn’t about to let something like that keep him down for long, especially when he had his own little plan cooking. So when he and his team (plus Jaune) walked into Professor Goodwitch’s class and saw that she wasn’t in the classroom, he nodded at Russel who separated from the group as they took their seats.

“Um…?” Jaune started as Russel messed with one of the seats before quickly joining them.

“Don’t worry about that Jaune,” Cardin said clapping a hand on Jaune’s shoulder and giving him the most fake grin, “just focus on the class. I’m depending on you to help with the homework, _right?_ ”

“R-right.” Jaune nodded and held his breath when he saw Qrow and Taiyang head for the seats that Russel had been at. He watched nervously while Cardin and a few of the students that had come in before them watched with interest as they started to sit down.

“Tack Qrow,” Taiyang said simply as he sat down.

“What?” Qrow asked looking down at his seat and narrowed his eyes at the tack sitting point up where he was about to sit. He grabbed it and held it up, giving a sardonic laugh as he said, “Ha, that’s adorable! He’s trying to step!” Qrow then looked at Cardin, who’s eyes widened as Qrow reared his hand back and threw the tack with a shout of “Amateur!” at him. Cardin barely had time to react, which wasn’t much of a problem since the tack missed him and embedded itself in the wood behind his head. Cardin and Jaune looked at the tack then back at Qrow pointed at both of his eyes and then at Cardin, eliciting an ‘ooh’ from the rest of the class.

“That’s enough, sit down!” Glynda Goodwitch shouted once she was in the classroom, her sharp eyes running over every student as they quickly took their seats. After all, Professor Goodwitch was _not_ the kind of teacher you wanted to make angry. Once everyone was seated and quiet she walked behind the desk and set her crop on top of it, her gaze once again scanning the room.

“While I understand you all are excited for the Vytal Festival, that is still a very long time from now. Focus less on that and more on your studies, understood?” The students either nodded or said ‘Yes Professor’ and Glynda crossed her arms before continuing. “Speaking of lessons, let’s start todays. Last time we discussed and demonstrated the uses of Aura in combat, primarily as a shield. Today we’ll take a closer look at a specific aspect of Aura that you all should be familiar with: Semblances. Now you all are aware of your Semblances and how to use them, being able to creatively apply them can be the difference between victory and defeat in a battle.

“As always, the best way to learn this is to see it firsthand. Do we have any volunteers for a quick spar, preferable those with versatile Semblances.” She looked over the classroom as student after student raised their hands until she settled on Taiyang. “You, Mr. Xiao Long? I wouldn’t say your Semblance is-“

“Fighting is more than just punching people Professor,” Taiyang said lowering his hand and pushing himself up, “And I’m very good at fighting.”

“…That you are,” Glynda reluctantly agreed. “As for your opponent, how about Mr. Bra-“

“I want to spar against Cardin,” Taiyang interrupted, causing Glynda to look at him curiously and Cardin to freeze up in shock.

“Mr. Winchester? Wouldn’t your partner be a better match for you?”

“I can’t fight. I have a cold,” Qrow said resting his head in his hand.

“…A cold. Do you think I’m stupid?”

“I’m asymptomatic.”

“Then how would you know, and even if you were why would you come to class?”

“Nothing will make me miss getting rid of remedial credits, not even death!” Qrow and Glynda stared at each other for a moment before Glynda closed her eyes and sighed as she looked at Cardin.

“Well then, Cardin and Taiyang will be sparring today. Go get your gear and meet in arena 2.”

“U-um…” Cardin started as the students started getting up and following Glynda out of the classroom, his eyes warily on Taiyang.

“If you’re not confident in your skills, you can back out and I’ll just spar with Jaune,” Taiyang said as he passed by where Cardin was sitting.

“What!?” Jaune shrieked.

“Are you saying this pipsqueak is a better fighter than me?” Cardin said angrily standing up and pointing at Jaune.

“Yes,” Taiyang replied with a nod.

“THAT’S IT! I’m not going to take _that_ lying down!” Cardin shouted and proceeded to storm away from the desk, down the stairs, and out of the classroom ignoring the laughs from his classmates.

Taiyang chuckled to himself and looked up at Jaune and the rest of CRDL and said, “It really is too easy sometimes,” before he crossed his arms behind his head and sauntered out of the class whistling a tune.

“Uh oh,” was Dove’s response to that, something that Russel and Sky silently agreed to.

When Taiyang got to the locker room he found Cardin at his locker getting out of his uniform and pulling his weapon out of his locker, muttering and grumbling to himself about something or other. Taiyang walked to his own locker, quickly checked around it for one thing or another, and then opened it to change. In a few minutes Taiyang was out of his uniform and in his usual combat clothes, shut his locker, and looked to find Cardin almost done.

“I hope you’re ready,” Taiyang said as he massaged the knuckles on his hand, “I won’t go easy on you.”

“Like you have been,” Cardin said shaking his head and turning to face Taiyang, “and honestly I don’t get it. You declare a prank war on me and knock me down a flight of stairs into honey and feathers over a muffin?”

“The muffin is incidental and far beside the point. Your attitude and the things you’ve been doing don’t belong here. Frankly Cardin, you’re kind of an asshole and deserve to be knocked down a peg or two.” Taiyang crossed his arms and shrugged as he added, “But we’re also nice. I’m sure if you apologize to Summer and promise never to do that stuff again, she’ll take the target off of you.”

“What ‘stuff’ do you mean? If you got the strength to get away with something, then why not do it? Isn’t that what your buddy Raven always says?” Cardin asked with a smirk. Taiyang rolled his eyes with a sigh and quickly shoved him into his locker, Cardin gave a surprised shout when Taiyang shut the door on him. “Hey, what gives!?”

“That attitude is what I’m talking about!” Taiyang shouted and marched over to his locker to get the string of five stink bombs Raven left for him. With the bombs in hand he went back to Cardin’s locker and opened the door to look the redhead in the eye. “You _will_ learn the rights and wrongs here Cardin, it’s only a question of how hard we have kick your ass for it to set in. Hold these please.”

“What?” Cardin asked as Taiyang handed him the string of bombs before yanking on the string connecting the pins together, which pulled them out, and shut the locker door again before running for his life out of the locker room. Cardin, for his part, fully realized what was going on a second later and could only mutter out “Oh son of a bi-“ before the bombs blew up in his hands.

“Whew, barely made it,” Taiyang muttered as soon as he got out of the locker room. He put his hands on his hips and sighed heavily. “I’m so getting in trouble for this.”

“Oh god,” Taiyang looked at the door to the locker room as Cardin’s voice echoed from inside, “I think it got into my clothes!”

“Meh, worth it.”

* * *

“Wow, that’s dirty as hell Tai,” Raven said smiling at her blonde teammate, “I didn’t think you could be such a bad boy. It’s kind of hot.”

“Oh shut up,” Taiyang rolled his eyes and jabbed a finger at the paper he used to illustrate his idea. “We doing this or not?”

“Sure thing, I’ll put the bombs where you said. I’ll have to remember to dig those up.”

“Alright then,” Qrow nodded and pointed at Raven, “So what’s your idea?”

“Huh? I’m helping mastermind all of this and helping you guys.”

“So you don’t have any ideas of your own?” Taiyang asked.

“I can think of something! I just… need a minute.” Raven pressed a finger to her forehead and started humming in thought, Qrow and Taiyang watching in anticipation.

Meanwhile, Summer was busy with homework. “The Creatures of Grimm are dangerous in several ways even for experienced Huntsman. While fangs and claws are their tools for offense, defensively they have a near impenetrable bony…” Summer paused in her writing to stare at the word she just wrote down. “ _Are_ they actually bones? Technically the Grimm don’t have bones and the like, they’re basically just living shadows… oh whatever.” Summer shook her head and finished the sentence about Grimm armor. “There are several ways around this armor, such as-“

The door to the bathroom suddenly creaked open and attracted Summer’s attention as Raven poked her head out. “Hey Summer, you got a minute?”

“Are you finally done with your stupid ‘meeting’? I have to use the bathroom.”

“Almost. We’re kind of stalled for ideas, so do you have one?”

“All of you or just _you_?” Summer asked getting a glare from Raven. She laughed a little and spun the pen in her hands for a minute before pointing at Raven with it. “I saw a video of some guys filming themselves jumping onto a trampoline covered in mouse traps in slow motion. Maybe something like that or off brand gelatin?”

“Hm, that’s interesting,” Raven said rubbing her chin, “We’ll have to workshop it.”

“But can I-“ Summer started just as Raven shut the door, leaving Summer to glare at the door before sighing and looking back at her homework. She just about ready to start writing again when her scroll started ringing, leaving her to sigh and answer the call cutting off the song. “Summer Rose.”

“Hello Ms. Rose, it’s Professor Peach,” the woman on the other end said rather energetically.

“Professor? Why are you calling so late?”

“I would have called or seen you sooner, but work caught up with me. As for why I’m calling, I want to offer you an extra credit assignment to clear your team of any remedial credits you have in my class. It shouldn’t be that much by now right?”

“I’m listening,” Summer said pushing away from the desk to pace around the room.

“I checked my store rooms earlier today and found that I’m running dangerously low on Red Sap from Forever Fall. I talked to Professor Ozpin and we scheduled a field trip for the first year students to collect some for me. However, you should know how Forever Fall is.”

“Yes, I remember camping there last year. So you want my team to accompany them for security against the Grimm?”

“And to collect sap yourselves. Do a good enough job and you won’t owe me any more remedial credits and you’ll be that much closer to freedom.”

“I’m certainly inclined to accept Professor, but let me run it by my team first. I’m sure they’ll accept too.”

“I’m waiting.” Summer lowered the scroll and walked over to the bathroom door and opened it, stopping their discussion about gelatin.

“Hey idiots, want to knock out the rest of Professor Peach’s remedials in one swoop?” she asked. Raven looked at Qrow and Taiyang before they all looked at Summer, Raven leaning against the table in the middle of the bathroom.

“I mean, sure, but what’s the catch?” Raven asked.

“No real catch, we just have to collect sap in Forever Fall and make sure our underclassmen don’t die. We do that and we won’t owe her anything else.”

“Really? That’s easy, we can do that.”

“A day of relaxing in the woods? Sounds like fun,” Qrow said with a nod.

“Forever Fall should look amazing at this time of year,” Taiyang nodded.

“Forever Fall looks the same all year long.”

“Exactly.”

“Great guys,” Summer said lifting her scroll back up to her ear, “we’re in Professor.”

“Excellent!” Professor Peach exclaimed happily. “The trip will be this Saturday, so make sure you’re all ready the night before.”

“Understood. Um, can you make sure that our inclusion is set in stone? You know, just in case?” The other end was silent for a few moments before Peach sighed tiredly.

“What are you four planning?” she asked flatly.

“Planning? We’re not planning anything. I just… don’t want to miss the trip,” Summer replied grabbing her upper arm with her free hand and looking over at her team. After another moment Peach sighed again.

“Just don’t blow up the school and I’ll see what I can do,” she finally said.

“Understood.”

“I’ll see you in class tomorrow. Good night.” The line went dead and Summer shut her scroll before jumping happily in the air.

“So we’re good?” Qrow asked.

“Yup! In four days we’ll go to Forever Fall and be that much closer to being done with this mess.”

“That works out,” Raven nodded and turned to face Qrow and Taiyang. “Ok, we’ll go with Qrow’s plan tomorrow, Tai’s the day after since I’m sure that’s the only time we have spar classes this week.”

“Checked it and yes,” Taiyang nodded.

“We’ll rest on the third day to prepare for the trip, then the trip itself. All good?” Taiyang and Qrow nodded in agreement.

“Excellent!” Summer said smiling sweetly at her teammates. “Now, pretty please, GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE BATHROOM!” The sudden shout caused the three to recoil away as Summer Blinked toward them. After a short struggle Raven, Taiyang, Qrow, and the table were thrown out of the bathroom in that order and Summer shut the door after them.

“Talk about touchy,” Taiyang said as Qrow got off of him and he got off Raven, “so what are we going to about the gelatin?”

“Forget the gelatin,” Raven said smiling evilly, “I got a better idea just now.” Qrow and Taiyang could looked at each other worriedly at that.


	15. Of Pranks and Forests pt. 2

“Jaune always gets home so late now,” Nora said aloud jumping on her bed, though Pyrrha was barely paying attention to her teammates in favor of staring out the window.

“He has been quite absent since he started spending time with Cardin,” Ren agreed as he went through the process of cleaning his weapons, just finishing cleaning the barrels and ready to move on to the blades.

“I mean, it hasn’t exactly been boring lately with what Raven and the others have been doing, but Jaune does know we have a field trip tomorrow right? We need our _rest!_ ” Nora punctuated the last sentence with a front flip and landed on her back onto her mattress. Pyrrha let out an annoyed huff that got both of her teammates attention and shook her head.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure our _great leader_ knows exactly what he’s doing,” she said more than a little bitterly. Ren and Nora exchanged glances and Ren set his weapons down while Nora sat up.

“Is something bothering you?” Ren asked.

“No,” Pyrrha replied.

“Wanna talk about it?” Nora asked.

“No.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

“Then we won’t push it,” Ren said picking his weapons back up and looked at Nora, “right?”

“Sure,” Nora answered and fell backwards, “but if you do want to talk, we’re right here Pyrrha.”

“I’ll… keep that in mind,” Pyrrha replied and sighed which got another shared look between Nora and Ren. Outside of the room Jaune very carefully shut the door and sighed to himself. There was no way he was going to be able to get in there now after _that._

“Hey Jaune,” a voice behind him said, causing Jaune to jump and spin around to meet the decidedly non-threatening image of Summer in her Corgi pajamas.

 _‘So glad I didn’t scream,’_ Jaune thought as he waved at Summer and said, “H-hey Summer. Nice day we’re having huh?”

“It’s nine o’clock at night Jaune,” Summer said flatly and crossed her arms.

“R-right… I meant to say night.”

“You lock yourself out of your room again?”

“Huh? Oh, no.” Jaune quickly dug through his pockets until he pulled out his scroll triumphantly. “See, all good!”

“That’s good.” Summer nodded. Neither of them said anything as Jaune put his scroll away and Summer shifted on her feet. “So where have you been?”

“…I think we both know where I’ve been,” Jaune answered looking down at the floor.

“Cardin,” Summer guessed and shook her head slightly when Jaune nodded. “He’s bad news Jaune, especially right now. You should be lucky you haven’t gotten caught in the crossfire.”

“Well maybe it would be better if I had.”

“And why would that be?” Jaune looked up at Summer and then back down to the floor as he leaned back until his back hit the door.

 _‘Would it be ok to tell her? She’d understand, right?’_ Jaune thought to himself before sighing. “Well… I screwed up big time Summer.” He looked up at her and continued when he saw her tilt her head slightly. “I… well I let my emotions get the better of me and I said some things I really, _really_ shouldn’t have. Now Cardin’s got me on a leash, Pyrrha won’t even talk to me, and I just don’t know how to get myself out of this.” Jaune slid down until he was sitting on the floor into a miserable pile of nothing that he felt like. “So short story, I’m a failure.”

“No you’re not.” Jaune looked up at Summer, who was crouching down and giving him a sympathetic look. “You made mistakes. That makes you Human, not a failure. Granted those mistakes may be a little more serious because you’re the leader of your team, but ultimately they’re still just mistakes. You’re not a failure.”

“Well… what if I’m a failure at being a leader.”

“I think we’ve talked enough about my sorry escapades from last year for you to know what a _real_ failure of a leader is like.” Summer moved over to sit next to Jaune and poked a finger into his shoulder. “A real failure of a leader puts their team in jeopardy because of their own selfishness. Trust me, you’re not a failure. Just inexperienced, which will change with time.”

“I get what you mean, but it’s not exactly making me feel better.”

“Yeah, I know.” Jaune blinked and watched as Summer looked away from him and hugged her legs, her gaze sad and focused on nothing. “Honestly I’m better at this pep talk thing when I can be open and honest about myself, which isn’t really happening right now.” Summer shook her head and looked back Jaune with a sad smile. “It’s hard to be helpful to others when you’re not honest about your own faults, you know?”

“Yeah…” Jaune nodded sadly. “So what should I do?”

“Well…”

“Hey Sum, Jaune.” The pair looked over at Taiyang, still in his school uniform, as he rounded a corner and waved at them.

“Hey Tai. How was detention?”

“Awful. I’m going to bed.” Without another word Taiyang went into STRQ’s room leaving Summer and Jaune alone again.

“As I was saying,” Summer started getting Jaune’s attention again, “I can’t give you an answer to your problems, only advice. You got yourself into whatever mess you’re in, so you have to get yourself out. Just remember that Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren have your back no matter what you do.”

“Are you so sure about that?” Jaune asked sadly. He still remembered the look on Pyrrha’s face that night on the roof.

“Of course, you’re their leader. You haven’t done anything to _really_ break their trust in you, so they’ll have your back. They look up to you even if you don’t think you deserve it.” Summer pushed herself up to her feet and walked a couple steps to her door. “Whatever’s going on with you Jaune, I want you to remember one thing. Your team comes first and you second; it doesn’t matter what it is, they always come before you. Always…” Summer lifted a hand and pressed it against her chest, feeling her heartbeat for a second. “That’s just the weight of the chains we wear. Understand?”

“I… I guess.”

“Good,” Summer nodded and finished her walk to her door. She grabbed the knob and opened the door slightly before stopping and looking back at Jaune. “Get your rest Jaune. It’ll be a big day tomorrow.” Jaune nodded and smiled at Summer, who returned the smile until a crash sounded from inside her room. “WHAT WAS THAT!?” She shouted and ran into her room, the door slamming shut behind her.

Jaune blinked before he shook his head and stood up. Suddenly his scroll started ringing and he pulled it out and opened it, cringing when he saw a message from Cardin.

* * *

It was around noon the next day that the group left Beacon for Forever Fall, consisting of two airships with Glynda Goodwitch and twenty students. The ones who hadn’t been to the forest before didn’t know what to expect until the ships landed and let them off. The second the doors opened more than a few of the first years let out gasps of awe at the rich red color of the leaves on the trees. The walk through the forest with more of the leaves falling around them before falling to the ground, which was practically covered with the leaves with only a few specks of green grass pushing through, was one of the more breathtaking sights they had seen.

All of this was succinctly summed up by Nora letting out an amazed “Wooow!” as she bounced trying to catch some of the leaves, every one evading her grasp as they fell.

“Yes students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful, but you must remember that we are here on a mission,” Glynda lectured as she led the students through the forest. “It’s my job to make sure that you all get back from this alive.” Nora took another leap at a leaf, once again failed to grab it, and watched the leaf flutter through the air until Summer gently grabbed it and held it up smiling at Nora.

“Patience,” Summer said simply letting go of the leaf and stopped when Glynda did, the rest of the group stopping as well except for one blonde holding an inordinate amount of things who crashed into Cardin and casually started whistling at the looks he got.

“Now you’re all here to help Professor Peach bolster her supply of Red Sap, which can only be found here in Forever Fall,” Glynda said as she pointed at Qrow and motioned for him to come up. Qrow rolled his eyes but did as he was asked, shifting his backpack off his shoulders and handing Glynda one of the jars inside it. Qrow went back to his team while Glynda held it up for the group to see and said, “You’ve all been given plenty of jars like this one. You all will have to fill at least one of these jars with sap, but be careful. Like many places outside of the Kingdom, this forest is home to the Creatures of Grimm. Stay close to your teammates and keep an eye on your surroundings.” Glynda looked over the group as they nodded until she realized something and looked at Summer. “Summer, where is Taiyang?”

“He saw a Beowolf in the woods a bit ago and went to take care of it,” Summer answered.

“And you let him go _alone?_ ”

“It’s Tai,” Raven answered crossing her arms behind her head, “he can handle one Beowolf.” Raven was proven right immediately when a Beowolf howled from the forest only to be cut off immediately, followed by its severed head flying into the clearing and landing in front of Glynda spooking a couple of the other students. Glynda watched the head disappear and looked at Taiyang as he walked out of the tree line with a grin rubbing his right arm.

“Such a dork,” Summer said pinching her nose as Taiyang walked back to them shooting finger guns at her and Raven.

“Yeah,” Raven agreed shaking her head, “He’s lucky he’s cute.”

“Yeah,” Summer and Qrow answered simultaneously, which got an amused look from his sister and a snicker from Summer. Qrow could only sigh out a “Goddammit,” in response.

“As I said,” Glynda spoke up and marched over to Taiyang and shoved the jar into his arms, “Stay. Close. To your teammates.” Taiyang nodded and gave a thumbs up in response, grateful that Glynda looked back at the group after a moment. “You all have until 4 o’clock to collect your sap, after which we’ll rendezvous here. Have fun until then.”

“Oh we’ll have fun alright,” Raven said leading the way for her team and most of JNPR. Pyrrha stopped and looked back at Jaune, their eyes meeting for a second before Jaune silently walked after Cardin. Like every other time this had happened in the last few days, Pyrrha just sighed and followed her team hoping Jaune would be ok. She was lost in her own thoughts as she walked with her group until she almost bumped into Nora when they stopped in a clearing.

“Just to be clear,” Summer said looking at the underclassmen, “You all _do_ know how to tap a tree right?”

“Nora and I have done it before,” Ren answered with Nora nodding, “and we can show Pyrrha if we need to.”

“I’ll be ok,” Pyrrha said glancing down at Miló in her hand, “but thank you.”

“Ok, I won’t worry then,” Summer said with a nod and turned to go to an unclaimed tree when she saw Qrow settling against a tree for a nap. “Qrow, stop being a lazy ass and get to work!” Qrow, with a smirk, simply lifted up a jar filled with sap for her to see before setting it down next to him and lifting his cape up and over his head. “Smart ass.” Despite her grievances Summer went on with her work, quickly tapping a tree and filling a jar with sap. With that done and nothing better to do, Summer spent her new free time switching between watching Taiyang practice fighting and Ren’s constant battle with Nora’s appetite to keep _one_ jar filled with sap.

“Hey Summer, mind watching my jar for me?” Raven said as she set down a jar at Summer’s feet.

“Sure, I have nothing better to do,” Summer said glancing at Raven and did a double take. “Why do you have a second jar?”

“Do you really want to know?” Raven asked shifting the jar under her arm.

“Will I not like the answer?”

“…Maybe, probably.”

Summer sighed and rubbed her eyes in exasperation. “Just promise me that you won’t kill someone, somehow.”

“Sure, I can do that,” Raven said and gave Summer one last wave before jumping into the tree tops and off to her own devices. Summer went back to people watching just as Nora once again undid all of Ren’s progress.

_‘How can she pound away those jars so quickly? And she keeps her figure too. The world’s not fair sometimes.’_

* * *

Jaune really wished he had pieced together what Cardin was planning earlier. First the essay about biology and what attracts certain animals, then the gathering Rapier Wasps which got Jaune more than a few stings. Then there was the gathering two jars extra sap that really should have tipped him off, but by then he was just so drained and done with everything he didn’t really care.

Well he was certainly caring now that he was lying on a cliff with CRDL overlooking his team and Team STRQ as they worked. Well, most of them anyway.

“There they are,” Cardin said glaring at Pyrrha and Summer and slammed a fist into the ground, “the two biggest pains in my neck I’ve had in my life. They think they’re _so_ smart and _so_ clever, well I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when I show them otherwise.”

“Are you sure you should be talking about them out loud like that?” Jaune asked looking between Cardin and the girls, “They’re like fifty feet away.”

“Oh please, like they could here us from there Jauney boy.”

“Did you hear something just now?” Summer asked loud enough for the boys to hear.

“No, why?” Pyrrha asked in return.

“I don’t know, but now I’m really mad for some reason.”

“That’s just a coincidence,” Cardin said worriedly and grabbed a small cardboard box that was sitting next to him, “but not to worry guys, after today they won’t be anything to worry about ever.” Jaune’s eyes widened a little when he heard buzzing coming from the box. “Jaune was nice enough to gather these wasps for us, and that essay he did a few days ago said they guys _really_ like sweet stuff.”

“Wait, you’re going to throw sap on them and sick wasps on them!?” Jaune asked as Cardin stood up and he was pulled to his feet by Cardin and Sky.

“No Jaune, _you_ are,” Cardin shoved a jar of sap into Jaune’s hands, “and you’ll do it too or I’ll go find Goodwitch and you’ll be on the first transport out of Beacon.”

Jaune looked at the girls for one second and back at Cardin and angrily said, “No!”

“…Excuse me?”

“Pyrrha’s my teammate and friend, I’ll never hurt her for any reason! And even if she wasn’t there I still wouldn’t do it. You may have blackmail on me, which is scary no doubt, but Summer is _way_ more scary than you’ll ever be!”

“What did you just say!?” Cardin said angrily clenching his fists and taking a step toward Jaune with Sky, Dove, and Russel stepping away from the blonde. “That little squirt is-“

“She started a prank war with you involving sting bombs and _throwing you down a flight of stairs_ over a _MUFFIN!_ I do _not_ want to know what she’ll do to me if she ever finds out I released hornets on her!” A brief image of a demonic Summer with sharp teeth, acid saliva, and glowing eyes advancing on him briefly flashed through his mind which solidified Jaune’s resolve on this.

“…He’s actually got a point Cardin,” Dove said.

“Shut up! Now Jaune-“

“NO!”

“Hey Summer!” Taiyang’s voice echoed from down the cliff, “I found a cleverly disguised jumping puzzle over here! Want to help me figure this out?”

“Sure Tai, I don’t have anything better to do right now,” Summer replied and left Pyrrha on her own, the redhead watching her leave before looking down at her jar that had been full a second ago.

“See, now the big, scary Rose is gone,” Cardin said in a mocking voice, “so throw the sap at Nikos and-“

“I SAID _NO!”_ Jaune shouted and threw the jar at Cardin, which shattered against his breastplate and covered it with sap. A silence hung over the group until muttered out a small “Crap.”

“Yeah,” Cardin said cracking his knuckles, “crap.”

* * *

“You’re not going to be able to jump up here like that Tai,” Summer said. The ‘cleverly disguised jumping puzzle’ turned out to be a series of pillars from an old kingdom between two cliffs. Summer naturally made the jump easily while Taiyang floundered at the first jump, so now he was trying to jump to the top of the pillar Summer was on from its bottom.

“Of course I can!” Taiyang responded and jumped at the pillar and ran on it for a moment before falling back to the ground. “It’ll just take me a second.”

“You’re not even using your semblance.”

“Of course not, I don’t want to burn my legs out in a Grimm infested forest!”

“Fair point. Just get back on top of the cliff, it’s an easier jump there.”

“Ok, fine.” Taiyang went to make the quick climb back up, neither him nor Summer noticing Nora quietly walking up to Qrow, who moved his nap spot closer to his team, and his jar of sap. She was only a few feet away when Qrow quickly grabbed Harbinger and aimed it at Nora, who quickly held her hands up.

“Don’t. Even. Think about it,” Qrow growled and lifted his cape away from his face.

“I wasn’t I swear! I just wanted to ask a question!” Nora shouted and watched Qrow watch her until he sighed and lowered his weapon. She lowered her hands when Qrow motioned for her to continue and asked, “So… why are we collecting sap? That’s a little odd even for Huntsman, right?”

“Peach covered this in one of her classes,” Qrow replied throwing his cape back behind him, “weren’t you paying attention?”

“It’s hard to pay attention in her classes. When she starts talking about food I start thinking about food and… well you know.”

“You never studied. Ok, I’ll give you a quick run down as to why this sap is so important. It’ll at least help kill a few minutes. The short answer is, of course, The Creatures of Grimm.”

“Really?”

* * *

_“Really. You know that Grimm are attracted to negative emotions right?”_

_“Yeah, everyone knows that.”_

“Goddammit, where the hell are they?” Raven asked herself as she looked around the forest from her tree perch. “Sons of bitches, they’re never around when you need them and everywhere when you don’t.” Lamenting her luck, Raven continued her tree hopping with her jar of sap under her arm.

_“Well some Huntsman, like Oobleck, like to study Grimm as a hobby. ‘The more we learn about them, the better we can fight them,’ they always say. Anyway they managed to figure out a couple of interesting things about the Grimm.”_

_“Oh?”_

_“DON’T YOU DARE FALL ASLEEP WHEN I’M TALKING! YOU ASKED!”_

_“I’m not asleep!”_

_“Whatever. Short version, Grimm are a lot more like animals then we thought right down to the five senses. Bizarrely enough, Grimm also have preferences for certain smells.”_

“No. Too small. No, no. Goddammit.” Raven sighed and landed on another tree to wipe the sweat off her forehead. “Seriously, not one good- oh _hello dolly_ you’ll do!”

_“What kind of smells?”_

_“Sweets mostly. You’ll find the odd Grimm that can somehow smell bitter stuff, but sweets are a pretty consistent bet. And locally you’ll find no better sweet stuff than this sap.”_

_“…Grimm are attracted to sap?”_

“Ok, let’s get this started,” Raven nodded to herself and drew her sword. She placed the edge of the blade under the lid of the jar and popped it off with a flick of her wrist. She sheathed her sword and watched her quarry as it scrounged a little before lifting its head and standing up to sniff the air. “That’s right, sniff and get interested.” A moment later it sank back down on all fours and started walking toward Raven’s position. “That’s it. You better hurry if you want this you fuck stick.”

_“Sweets in general, but this sap is really sweet. You’ve eaten enough of this stuff to know that.”_

_“Heh heh, true. So… we’re collecting this sap because Grimm are attracted to it. What, do we use it to set up some cool traps?”_

_“Something like that. Peach is in charge of keeping feeders topped up with this stuff in areas all around the defense grid. Grimm don’t eat that much, maybe a lick or two at a time, so a few jars in those things will draw Grimm to them for months. Less pressure on the defense grid is always good for everyone.”_

“Ok, fat ass is still following,” Raven commented looking back. She had to off a few other interested parties to make sure _only_ Fat Ass was the one following. That wasn’t much of a problem though. “Now, I think they went this way,” Raven mused and changed directions in her tree hopping, picking up her pace just enough to make good time.

* * *

“But do Grimm really have that good of a sense of smell?” Nora asked holding her chin in thought.

“That depends on the exact species but it’s still good enough for the general population. Beowolves and Ursai apparently have the best smell out of all of them. They’re tenacious too; they get one whiff and they’ll chase after it until it either gets away, they catch it, or they die.” Qrow crossed his arms and nodded. “So yeah, be careful not to get this crap all over you.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” Nora said just as Qrow looked up to see the area around her mouth covered with red sap. After looking to see his jar still full, he looked back up at Nora in confusion to watch her lick at the sap.

“When did you-?” he started to ask only for him and Nora to flinch when Pyrrha angrily shouted “NORA!”

* * *

“Gah!”

Jaune was both regretting and not at all regretting throwing that sap on Cardin. It was cathartic yes, but it did lead to Cardin beating the crap out of him. Not that Jaune really seemed to mind getting punched and knocked to the ground; the second he decided to throw it something just ‘clicked’ in his mind.

“I hope that felt good throwing that Jaune,” Cardin said grabbing Jaune’s collar and pulling him up off the ground. “You’re really going to pay for that!”

“I don’t care what you do to me,” Jaune replied with a glare, “I’ll never let you hurt my team.”

“What, you think you’re some kind of big man now?”

“Bigger than you.” Jaune couldn’t help but smirk at that, even as Cardin reared his fist back for another punch. Though when it made contact with his face all Jaune could see was a bright light as his Aura blocked it, knocking him away from Cardin and leaving him grasping his hand as a nasty bruise started forming on his knuckles.

 _‘Oh right, Aura,’_ Jaune thought pushing himself up into a sitting position and looking down at his hands shimmering with Aura, _‘I really gotta remember that.’_ Jaune’s train of thought was interrupted by someone kicking him down from behind, leaving him looking up at Cardin and his team while his Aura was already working on the bruises on his face.

“You’re _really_ going to pay for that,” Cardin said simply shaking his hand to ease the pain. Then they heard a rustling coming from behind them and everyone turned to look in time to see a blur of black and red jumped from the treetop into the clearing, landing in a crouch and looking up at Cardin.

“OH CRAP, RAVEN!” Russel shouted and he, Dove, and Sky dove away from Cardin onto the ground. The leader of CRDL only had enough time to look at his teammates and back at Raven as she charged at him. Her expression was flat, cold, and focused until she was about ten feet from Cardin when she broke into a large grin and tossed the jar of sap in her hand into the air and spun around to back kick it. The jar flew through the air toward Cardin and hit him in the head, his Aura blocking the glass but not the sap.

“Gah, seriously!?” Cardin shouted as he wiped the sap away from his eyes, “What’s with people throwing sap at me!?”

“Suck on that, you brigand!” Raven shouted as she grabbed her sword and swing it in the air, a portal opening in its wake, and jumped into it. The portal vanished a moment later and Jaune could only blink at the abrupt interruption she provided. An angry yell from Cardin got Jaune’s attention again and the blonde had to hold back laughter at how the red sap all over Cardin’s face made him look.

“That’s it! I’ve had enough of them! When I get my hands on them I’ll-“

Then an Ursa burst into the clearing. It stood on its hind legs and sniffed the air before looking at a suddenly terrified Cardin and roaring.

“Ursa, that’s a big Ursa!” Russel shouted getting to his feet and running into the forest.

“Run for your life!” Sky answered in kind. Jaune only spared the forest they ran into a glance before looking at the Ursa as it charged at Cardin, knocking him to the side with a swipe of its claws. He didn’t even need to think about what he wanted to do.

* * *

“Still not making it Tai,” Summer shouted at her blonde teammate as he climbed the cliff for the upmost time. “I can help you if you want it.”

“Don’t patronize me Summer!” Taiyang yelled back glaring at the pillar Summer was standing on and rolled his shoulder. “I can do this! Fifteenth time’s the charm, right?”

“Sure Tai.” Before Taiyang could embarrass himself with another jump a portal opened next to him, startling him pretty bad, and Raven jumped out of it. The portal closed as Raven sheathed her sword, crossed her arms behind her head and smiled at Taiyang.

“Sup?” she asked.

“We’ve _got_ to put a bell on you or something!” Taiyang said and moved his hand over his head, “Every time those portals open with that air whoosh, I feel like someone’s shooting a bullet past my head! It’s not good for my long term health.”

“Baby. Hey Pyrrha, you look like you haven’t gotten much done.”

Pyrrha, who was standing nearby with an armful of empty jars, could only answer, “Thanks to Nora,” in annoyance.

“Heh, Nora. I like that girl; anyone who can lift 500 pounds over her head gets a plus in my book.”

“Of course you’d say that,” Taiyang said shaking his head as Summer blinked next to them.

“What did you do?” She said flatly.

“Summer, good buddy, I’m hurt!” Raven said dramatically placing a hand on her chest, “just because I leave for a few minutes you assume I did something bad. Where’s the trust?”

“It’s you.”

“…Right. I didn’t do anything _that_ bad. It’ll clean itself up in no time.”

“I don’t believe that!” Qrow shouted.

“ _What_ did you _do?_ ” Summer’s question was answered when most of Team CRDL ran out of the nearby woods screaming their heads off. Taiyang stopped Russel by grabbing his vest and pulling him close.

“What’s the shouting for? What’s going on?” he asked.

“There’s a huge Ursa back there,” Russel said pointing behind him, “it’s attacking Cardin!”

“Oh crap,” Raven whispered as Taiyang pulled Russel closer.

“Your _leader_ is pinned by a Grimm and you’re _running away!?_ ” he said angrily.

“I’m not fighting an Ursa!” Russel said squirming under Taiyang’s glare.

“You coward!” Taiyang shouted and threw Russel away, who continued running past them.

“Jaune!” Everyone looked at Pyrrha as she looked back into the woods in fear, “He was with Cardin!”

“Oh goddammit! Qrow!” Summer shouted and Qrow lifted his cape over his head as Summer pointed at him and Taiyang. “You and Taiyang escort the idiots to Glynda and tell her what’s going on!” Qrow was on his feet and started running with Taiyang while Summer lifted her hood over her head and started walking. “Pyrrha come with us. The three of us are taking care of that Ursa.”

“Kay,” Raven said.

“And we’re going to have a _long_ talk later Raven.”

“Whatever.”

* * *

Cardin did manage to get back on his feet after getting knocked down, only to get knocked down again by the Ursa. It looked at Jaune, who stood stock still, for a moment before going right back to advancing on Cardin. The brief bit of resistance the bigger student tried to put up by pulling his mace from his waist ended with yet another quick swipe of its claws. That was the first thing that Summer, Raven, and Pyrrha saw when they found them.

“Oh wow, that _is_ a big Ursa,” Pyrrha said peeking from behind a tree.

“That thing is a step away from being a Major,” Summer pointed out and turned to glare at Raven, “What possessed you to bring _that_ to them!?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about Summer,” Raven replied, “but if I _did_ , it would be because I didn’t think a majority of them would puss out like a bunch of bitches.”

“That talk just got a whole lot longer Raven. For now, whatever.” Summer looked back at the Ursa and reached behind her to grab York’s handle. “Ok Raven, get ready to charge. We’ll take care of the Ursa while Pyrrha grabs-“

“Wait!” Pyrrha said suddenly grabbing Summer’s arm.

“What do you mean ‘wait’!? If we don’t hurry they’ll-“

“Moron is charging,” Raven said suddenly. Summer looked into the clearing and saw Jaune leap between Cardin and the Ursa with his weapon drawn. He blocked another swipe from the Ursa and managed to keep it back, even if he did have to use both his arms to keep it there.

“Dammit!” Summer muttered and started drawing York.

“Stop!” Pyrrha said tightening her hold Summer’s arm, “let him try!”

“What?” Raven asked, glancing at Pyrrha while her hand was still on her sword.

“Pyrrha…” Summer scolded.

“This whole thing started because Jaune felt like he was useless!” Pyrrha explained, “That he couldn’t get anything done without our help. The useless idiot…”

“He’s not wrong,” Raven commented watching Jaune get knocked away by the Ursa.

“Yes he is!” Pyrrha peeked around the tree to watch Jaune get up and hold his sword up. “I’m sure if he just has the chance-“

“I am _not_ putting lives at risk to sate some _blonde idiot’s ego!_ Now let go of me!” Summer said and struggled against Pyrrha, who held firm.

“Just once! If he needs it we’ll help! Please…?”

“It looks like he needs help now,” Raven said as Jaune ran to the Ursa, landed a couple of hits and rolled under a swipe. “It’s up to you Sum, but if we’re gonna help, it better be soon.”

“Oh for…” Summer looked at Jaune as he blocked a swipe and got pushed back a few steps. She thought for a moment before releasing her grip on her sword. “Fine, but if he gets hurt it’s on you Pyrrha. Keep an eye on his Aura, and if it dips below 25% we’re going out there no matter what you say. Got it?”

“Yes,” Pyrrha replied letting go of Summer and taking out her scroll and pulling up her team’s Aura meters, wincing a little once she saw Jaune already at 60%. “Thanks Summer.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” Summer growled and turned to watch Jaune, “Everyone is trying my patience lately.”

“Stop charging you idiot, or at the very least charge for its legs,” Raven muttered as Jaune charged again with a yell. He swung and hit the Ursa in the stomach, which got his sword stuck and immediately knocked away by a solid hit to his side. He managed to land on his shoulder and roll into a crouch when he heard his scroll in a slot on his shield beeping. He checked it and saw his Aura just enter the red at the same time as Pyrrha. “Moron.”

“Pyrrha.”

“He can do it,” Pyrrha replied looking at Jaune took a breath and ran at the Ursa again.

“He’s gonna die,” Raven said flatly. Pyrrha silently agreed when she saw the Ursa starting to swing at Jaune as he charged. His shield _was_ on the right side, but it just wasn’t high enough. It took her only a split second of thought before she focused on the shield, thankful that she had touched it earlier on the airship, and lifted her hand. The shield was enveloped in a black shimmer and rose to block the claw in the nick of time. It pushed Jaune down, though not to his knees, and with a sudden burst of strength and a yell he pushed the paw back up, aimed a swing at the Ursa’s neck, and cut it off in one stroke. Pyrrha let out a breath once it was all over and lowered her hand.

“Well shit, look at that.”

“Not so weak, huh?” Pyrrha asked looking at Raven.

“I never said he was weak, just a moron.” Raven let go of her sword and leaned against the tree she was hiding behind. “He’s not dead though, that says a lot.”

“With a little help,” Summer said looking at Pyrrha, who stiffened up under her gaze and quietly shut and put away her scroll. “That was your Semblance huh? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you use it before.”

“Right,” Pyrrha said gently grabbing her right wrist and looking down at it, “my control over polarity. It’s useful no doubt, but I don’t like relying on it or letting it out in the open. Not many people know about it.”

 _‘Magnetism huh? That is useful for her, as a Huntress and a Gladiator,’_ Summer thought looking at the redhead. _‘Smart of her to keep it under wraps too.’_

“While I agree with being cautious, try not to hide it too much kay?” Raven said and glanced at Summer as she looked back at her.

 _‘Too good of a chance,’_ she thought as she looked back at Pyrrha and nodded. “I agree, control over poles can be very useful.” Summer put a hand over her mouth to hide the smirk when Pyrrha looked at her in confusion. _‘Yes, double kill!’_

“No dumbass, she can control metal like a magnet,” Raven corrected in annoyance.

“Magnets, how do they work?”

“Well it works by…” Raven trailed off when she realized what Summer had said and gave her a sharp glare, which only got worse when Summer looked back at her with the _biggest_ grin and Blinked away. Raven growled, wringed her hands where Summer used to be, and took off after the trail of rose petals that she left behind.

Pyrrha blinked twice at what just happened before shaking her head and looking at Jaune, standing straighter and happier than he had been for a while as he sheathed his sword, and started slowly backing away with a smile. “This’ll be our little secret.”

Jaune, still unknowing to any of that, walked past the vanishing corpse of the Ursa to Cardin. He barely noticed Cardin’s look of awe as he reached a hand down to him. Cardin took the hand and let himself get pulled up to his feet.

“Wow Jaune… that…” Cardin started to say only to stop when Jaune tightened his grip on his hand.

“Don’t… mess with my team or my friends _ever again_ ,” he said with the most determined look on his face. “Got it?”

“Y-yeah,” Cardin replied with a slow nod. Jaune released his hand and started walking to the rendezvous point. Cardin watched for a moment before following, blowing out a small bit of sap out of his nose. “This sap stinks.”

* * *

“And this is accurate?” was the first thing Jaune heard from Glynda when he rejoined the main stomping grounds for the trip. The fact she was talking to Summer, Raven, and Pyrrha was enough to send a small chill of fear down his spine given what happened not that long ago.

“Yes. By the time we got there the Ursa was already dead,” Summer replied.

“I see.” Glynda looked at Jaune, who stood up a little straighter under her gaze, and sighed a little when she saw Cardin covered in sap. “And that explains the attack,” she muttered and walked over to the two boys. “Well Cardin, I hope you learned an important lesson about being careful in a hostile environment. Hopefully you’ll remember the _next_ lesson on survival.”

“Um…” Cardin started and glanced over at the girls, all of whom glared at him to varying degrees. “Yes Professor! I uh… learned a lot. Can I go home and take a shower?”

“That would be for the best all things considered. Raven, please escort Cardin to the rendezvous so he and his team can go back to Beacon.”

“Kay.”

“Um…”

“What,” Raven leaned forward and narrowed her eyes at Cardin, “Do you have something to say to me?” Cardin met her eyes for a second before looking away and sighed.

“No.”

“That’s what I thought. Come on.” Raven crossed her arms behind her head and lead the way as Cardin quietly followed after her.

“As for you Jaune,” Glynda said looking at the blonde, “while I’m impressed with how you acted to defend a classmate, I would also dissuade you from taking fights you couldn’t reasonably win. It’s a miracle you got away with only a few bruises and sores.”

“Yeah…” Jaune nodded, “but I couldn’t just not do anything when Cardin was being attacked.”

“And I’m not saying you shouldn’t have done that. In any case I think you’ve had quite the day, so you can go back to the rendezvous as well.” Jaune silently nodded and walked after Raven and Cardin, Pyrrha silently watching him as he gently prodded one of the bruises on his face.

“And what about us?” Summer asked.

“There’s still an hour until pickup, so make the most of it. That’ll be all.” Glynda nodded to both girls and walked away leaving the two girls alone.

“Yes Ma’am. Back to sap collecting then.”

“That reminds me, where are Qrow and Taiyang?” Pyrrha asked.

* * *

_“Goddammit!”_

_“Yes, another crate for me! Thank you Qrow.”_

_“Best of fifty seven!”_

* * *

“They’ll be fine,” Summer answered, “Come on, let’s find Nora and Ren.” 

* * *

“Cardin, you’re okay!” Dove shouted once he saw Cardin and he, Sky, and Russel rushed to surround their leader.

“No thanks to you guys!” Cardin replied angrily and sighed, “whatever, it’s over. We get to go home early.”

“Oh… that’s good,” Sky said.

“Yeah, so please get on the ship and get the fuck out of here,” Raven said holding her nose, “you smell like an accident in a cupcake shop.”

“You got some nerve saying that!” Cardin said turning to look at Raven, who was glancing around the clearing. “You threw this sap on my head with that Ursa on your tail, you could have warned us about that!”

“Yeah, I could have, but I didn’t,” Raven replied looking at Cardin and smiling evilly. “Funny how a simple, harmless prank like that can _suddenly_ turn deadly huh? Why, it would be like it had to have happened-“

“On… purpose…” Cardin finished, his eyes widening along with his team.

“And I’m sure if _someone_ would be dumb enough to mention the _on purpose_ part to faculty, they’ll suddenly find themselves on the receiving end of something… worse. You get me?”

“Y-yeah, crystal clear,” Cardin said backing away from the brunette and into his team.

“Good. Now get on the ship.” Cardin and his boys hadn’t moved as fast as they had right then and were on the ship in a second. “Good. See you back at Beacon boys. And don’t you worry, _tomorrow’s_ hit will be so much better.”

As the airship started taking off, with all of CRDL watching Raven as she waved them off, they couldn’t help but shudder. “That girl scares the crap out of me,” Sky said.

 _‘Pride is_ so _not worth my life,’_ Cardin thought and shut the airship’s side door.

* * *

“You guys _always_ have the most interesting adventures,” Velvet said at lunchtime the next day when STRQ told CFVY about what happened during the trip along with Nora and Ren. “It’s starting to get annoying how we _never_ see them.”

“I’ll be sure to invite you next time we have one planned,” Summer snarked as she stirred her soup before looking at Raven, “And maybe the next time I give _her_ an earful.”

“I got it, I got it. Sheesh,” Raven shook her head and brushed the sleeve of her jacket. “At least we don’t have any more credits due for Peach.”

“Not the important part here Rae.”

“Whatever. So, anyone want to hear what I have in store for Cardin next? It’s really good!”

“Speaking of,” Yatsuhashi suddenly said and pointed behind STRQ, who turned to see CRDL standing behind them. Like Jaune, Cardin had been lucky to only get a few scrapes from the Ursa, most of which was hidden under his clothes save for one on his neck and a small one on his cheek. Summer narrowed her eyes at Cardin and turned around in her seat to face him.

“What do you want?” she asked crossing her arms. Cardin rubbed his arm and looked back at his team, who were just as nervous as him.

“You guys are doing it too,” he said.

“Of course,” they replied simultaneously.

“Doing what?” Summer asked quirking an eyebrow. She certainly didn’t expect Cardin to clear his throat, getting down on his knees, and bow to her.

“I’M SORRY!” he shouted, which was soon followed by the rest of his team doing the same as he did. Summer was naturally flabbergasted along with most of the surrounding students who were watching. “I’m sorry about how I’ve been acting lately. It… wasn’t right. I really am sorry!”

“The _arrogance_ to think apologizing to _me_ will make things better,” Summer said shaking her head at the sight, “you really-“

“I already apologized to Jaune!” Cardin interrupted and looked up at Summer, “and the Fau- I mean… crap, I forgot her name! The Faunus you’re sitting with, you know, for good measure?” Summer, along with everyone else at the table, turned to look at Velvet. She looked at everyone else and silently, slowly shrugged.

“Sure, whatever,” Summer said turning back to Cardin, “it’s one thing to apologize for something bad that you’ve done, it’s another entirely to understand _why_ it was bad.”

“Oh come on, I had an Ursa attack me because of a prank! Isn’t that enough!?” Everyone’s silent stares proved otherwise and Cardin sighed. “Fine, bullying doesn’t belong in a place like Beacon.”

“ _Anyplace!_ Look at me,” Summer said leaning forward and looking right into Cardin’s eyes. “You are a Huntsman in training, someone who’s _supposed_ to be a light against the darkness. A darkness that, if left unimpeded, will swallow all of us whole. You are not a child with nothing better to do than focus on petty slights, so stop acting like one. Understand?”

“Y-yeah…”

“We’ll see. Keep your nose clean, or we’ll clean it for you again. I might even get involved myself next time. Until then, target’s off your back.” Summer straightened out and turned back to the table pointing at her team, “You three can take a break now, good job.”

“Kay,” Qrow nodded with a wave.

“Fine with me,” Taiyang said.

“Dammit, I had such a good idea for today too,” Raven groaned and slouched in her seat a little.

“So… that’s it?” Cardin asked.

“Yes, as long as you behave,” Summer replied and waved him away, “now get out of here.”

“R-right, thanks senpai! Let’s get out of here!” Cardin quickly got to his feet, followed by his team, and they ran out of the dining hall as fast as they could.

“And don’t call me senpai! That’s weird!” Summer stood up and yelled at them until they were out of sight. She sat back down and shook her head, “God, even when it’s all over he pisses me off. Whatever, I’m done with it.”

“So… all’s well that ends well?” Fox asked.

“I guess.”

“Hey Sum, were you ever really mad about that muffin?” Coco asked.

“Oh Coco, you’re a leader. You oughta know,” Summer winked, “you see an opening, you take it.”

“Duly noted.”

“I’m still angry,” Raven sighed, “what am I supposed to do with 200 pounds of gelatin?”

“You _what?!”_ Summer shouted but flinched when Velvet slammed her hands on the table and stood up, staring wide eyed at Raven.

“You have 200 pounds of gelatin!? Where!?” she asked excitedly. Raven blinked at the Faunus before grinning and tenting her fingers in front of her.

“I _could_ tell you… for 10,000 Lien,” Raven said, to which Velvet immediately threw and impeded a Lien card into the table in front of her. Raven pulled the card out and checked its contents on her scroll, nodding happily at the amount. “It’s all in freezer 47. It might not be fully settled yet, so be careful and have fun.”

“Oh yes!” Velvet cheered and started running to the freezers.

“Oh no!” Coco said standing up and pointing after Velvet, “Stop her, we can’t afford another cleaning bill!”

“And just like that,” Raven said waving the Lien card as she watched CFVY run away, Yatsuhashi somehow managing to outpace Fox, “I managed to make a profit. Today’s looking good for me!”

“Thank you Raven,” Summer said snatching the card away from Raven and stashing it in one of her uniform pockets, “That’s going right to our Dust budget.” Raven stared at Summer for a moment before faceplanting and groaning into her food. “Damn, my soup’s cold now.”

“Hey…” Nora spoke up suddenly holding up a hand, “if we ever make you guys mad, you’ll tell us right?”

“Don’t worry Nora, you’ll be the first to know,” Taiyang replied with a smirk.

“…Thank you,” Nora nodded and looked worriedly at Ren, who shrugged in response. “You’re right Ren, where _is_ Pyrrha and Jaune?”

* * *

Pyrrha would find Jaune later that night after dinner right where she had last met him, hopefully he was actually clearing this thoughts.

“Hello Jaune,” she said getting his attention, “no Cardin tonight?”

“No, that ship has sailed. I’m done with him,” Jaune said turning to look back up at the Shattered Moon while Pyrrha walked up to him. The pair stood in silence for a few moments before Jaune sighed and turned to Pyrrha. “Pyrrha, I want to apologize.”

“For what?” she asked turning to him.

“You know what! For being an idiot, for having a bunch of stupid ideas, saying stupid things. I guess what Raven said that one time just got to me a little more than I’d like.” Jaune sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, “I should probably pick my role models a bit better, huh?”

“You could definitely do worse than Raven,” Pyrrha said shaking her head and looking up at the moon, “she just has a different view of the world and flaws to go with it. That’s something I’ve been learning a lot since I got here.” Pyrrha looked back at Jaune, him doing the same, and smiled. “But it’s ok, I forgive you.”

“What? Just like that, even after-“

“Jaune,” Pyrrha interrupted putting a hand on his shoulder, “It’s ok. You know, we’ve been missing our leader and I’m sure you missed dinner.” She pulled her hand away from Jaune and started walking to the door. “Ren made breakfast for dinner; pancakes, eggs, the whole works. No syrup though, you can thank Nora for that.”

“Right,” Jaune said quietly before saying louder, “There’s actually one other thing Pyrrha.” The redhead stopped to look at him.

“Yes?”

“I just wanted to thank you for the help yesterday. With the Ursa.” Pyrrha blinked at that and rubbed the back of her neck.

“I have no idea what you mean,” Pyrrha said nervously, “but I did hear that you killed that Ursa by yourself and-“

“Pyrrha I’m a dweeb, not stupid,” Jaune interrupted and held up an arm in a mock shielding position. “I felt my shield move on its own and saw that… shimmery thing around it.” He pointed at Pyrrha and added, “and who do I know that can move metal?”

Pyrrha, now wide eyed, could only say, “Um… look, Jaune-“

“I get it, ok. I get why you helped me and why you didn’t tell me. A little help never hurt anyone, like you said.” Jaune started pacing and continued, “And, you know, looking back on it I definitely would have died if you hadn’t done that. So, thanks for helping me.”

“…Anytime Jaune.”

“Let’s just not make it _every_ time, ok? Which brings me to my next question.” Jaune stopped pacing and looked at Pyrrha pleadingly and asked, “Can you help me out with the fighting thing? We both know that I’m not that good at it, so maybe you can help me suck less. Can you help me?”

Pyrrha looked at him silently for a moment before smiling and walking over to him, where she shoved him to the ground.

“Gah, hey!”

“Your stance is wrong. Your feet need to be wider and lower to the ground.” She reached a hand down and, after watching Jaune smile back up at her and grabbing her hand, pulled him up to his feet. “Let’s try that again.”

“Alright,” Jaune nodded and moved a step away from Pyrrha. “You know, I changed my mind about what I said. Coming here _was_ a good idea. Everyday is something new; I mean, who knew Grimm were attracted to sweet stuff?”

“It’s literally one of the first things you learn in a training school,” Pyrrha said with a small laugh before flinching a little. “Uh, I’m sorry, I mean-“

“Whatever, at least I’m learning it now,” Jaune said waving the worry away. “Hey, you think all Grimm are like that? Attracted to sweets?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it was true.”

* * *

**Ka-dunk, ka-dunk, ka-dunk, ka-dunk, ka-dunk, ka-dunk.**

Salem let out a breath and glanced at her High General, the only other being currently in the meeting room besides her, who was currently entirely focused on a paddle ball toy she had found somewhere. _‘If the man who invented that toy hadn’t died in a horse accident I’d have him executed_ specifically _for this,’_ Salem thought watching Ruby play with the toy a little longer. Eventually she had enough and, with a flick of her finger and a bit of magic, cut the string on the toy sending the ball flying away.

Ruby stared at the paddle in her hand for a second before sighing and setting it down. “Yes Queen.”

“Your sister generals are late, _again,_ ” Salem said both calmly and angrily, “where are they?”

“Blake is taking care of White Fang stuff… somewhere,” Ruby answered with a shrug, “And I sent Yang to get Weiss not long before I got here. They should be here soon.”

“At least _one_ of you is doing work.”

“A little too much if you ask me. Blake _really_ needs to learn to relax.”

“Ruby…” Salem stopped when the main doors opened and Yang walked in quietly. “General Yang, where is… why are you covered in frost?”

“Yeah… Weiss isn’t coming Queen,” Yang answered and walked to the seat next to Ruby, whimpering as she stroked her hair. “My poor hair…”

“She froze you… again?” Ruby asked patting Yang on the shoulder when she sat down, “Why?”

“She was stuffing her face with sugar cookies and jam filled cupcakes again. She should be lucky we don’t actually get any nutrition from food, or else her ass would be as big as Cinder’s ego.” Yang looked around the room and over to Ruby. “Blake’s not here?”

“She’s tending to some White Fang business,” Salem answered looking Yang in the eye.

“That’s inconvenient. Weiss at least wanted me to pass some info to Blake before she froze my hair. Seriously, I don’t have enough conditioner to fix this.”

“And what would that be, _General?”_

“Something she got from Jacques: a Dust freighter is on its way to Vale, apparently filled with Dust. I guess Cinder’s little group is too good at stealing the stuff.”

“Interesting,” Ruby said looking at Salem. “There is no such thing as too much Dust Queen.”

“Yes.” Salem said and waved a hand. “You will tell Blake about his immediately Yang. She’ll know what to do with it.”

“Yes Queen,” Yang said standing up just as a Seer slipped into the room. Its tentacles surrounded her and Salem smiled to herself.

“All according to plan.”

“Yeah,” Ruby echoed resting her head in her hand, her mind flitting back to a white cloak. “According to plan.”


	16. Talks on a beach

Jaune and Pyrrha had stayed on the rooftop for a good while going over basic fighting forms and not much more, mostly because it was getting late by then and school uniforms weren’t _exactly_ made for fighting. Still the two of them had a great time and were discussing a good schedule for the next session as they walked back to their room.

“Nights would probably be best to do these sessions,” Pyrrha said with a nod, “no one would be around, homework will be all taken care of, and there’s nothing to get you sleepy like a good workout.”

“I take it that’s something you’ve done a lot of?” Jaune asked wearily, since Pyrrha did end up shoving him to the ground when he got the stance wrong. Still he did get it down eventually.

“More than you’d think.”

“Well, who am I to disagree with that. Bed certainly sounds good right now.”

“After dinner of course.”

“That too.” The pair had just gotten to the corner to where their room was when then heard a shout.

“OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!” Pyrrha and Jaune stopped and looked at each other. They nodded and set their faces as they rushed around the corner to confront… Taiyang angrily staring and pounding on his dorm room. “Seriously, this shit isn’t funny!” Pyrrha and Jaune blinked at the upperclassman before straightening up and walking over to him.

“Is everything ok Taiyang?” Pyrrha asked, which caused Taiyang to look at them in surprise before groaning and running a hand down his face.

“Just what I need, for you two to see my misery,” he muttered to himself.

“Your… misery?” Jaune asked looking at the door. “Did you lock yourself out?”

“Worse.”

“Worse?” Pyrrha asked.

“Much worse.”

“Oh _Tai,_ ” Raven called out from inside the room in a deep voice, “You look absolutely _wonderful_ with all those ribbons in your hair~!” Pyrrha and Jaune stared at the door wide eyed while Taiyang tried to look _anywhere but at them._ “Just what I’d expect from my _perfect girl._ ”

“Perfect-” Pyrrha started.

“-Girl?” Jaune finished.

“Well, I _do_ like looking pretty,” Summer called from the room, also in a deep voice, “these ribbons ensure that I am able to kiss _all the boys!_ But it doesn’t matter, I only have eyes for you Qrow, my Waifu for Laifu~!”

“What…?” Pyrrha asked looking at Taiyang.

“They just… won’t let it go,” Taiyang said simply wringing his hands in the air. Pounding footsteps rapidly approached behind Jaune and Pyrrha and they had to jump to the sides of the hall to keep from getting bulldozed by Qrow. “Any luck?”

“No, the sons of bitches barricaded the window from the inside!” Qrow replied with a groan, “And they got the sock puppets out too.”

“Goddammit, I hate those things!”

“Keep it down!” Nora shouted opening JNPR’s door and coming out in her pajamas, “It’s late and some of us need to sleep! Oh, hey Jaune, Pyrrha, what’s up?”

“This,” Jaune answered.

“I can’t hold back anymore!” Raven shouted getting everyone’s attention, “you better prepare yourself for some hardcore tongue smooching, my husbando!”

Nora blinked once and silently went back into her room.

“So feisty, and I haven’t even gotten my special lipstick on!” Summer answered and started laughing. “What the fuck are we even doing Rae?”

“Shipping.”

“OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!” Taiyang shouted and started banging on the door again. Nora came back out with Ren, both of them carrying chairs which they set down and sat on.

“Never Tai!” Summer shouted back, “Just accept your feelings!”

“Pyrrha, are you ok?” Jaune asked having just now noticed that Pyrrha had sunk to the floor, lying on her side and holding her mouth to keep from laughing too loud.

“Yeah, laugh it up Nikos,” Qrow said glaring at Pyrrha and joined Taiyang in pounding on the door.

“Oh I plan to,” Nora said crossing her legs and grinning widely, “I wish we had some popcorn.”

“That would complete the aesthetic,” Ren nodded and waved at Jaune, “It’s good to see you Jaune. Everything ok?”

“Er, yeah,” Jaune said and looked down at the still laughing Pyrrha, “well mostly anyway. I guess we’ll need to have a team talk later huh?”

“If you want.”

“Really, as long as you’re ok we can’t really think of anything,” Nora added with a shrug, “But if you have any popcorn it would help.”

“I don’t have any,” Jaune said gently tapping Pyrrha with his foot, which did nothing but make her wiggle and laugh more.

“Candy bar?”

“I don’t have any food Nora.”

“Lame.”

“Hey, maybe you could try unscrewing the hinges?” Jaune asked looking at the older boys. “I think we have a screwdriver somewhere.”

“Oh yeah, smart idea Jaune,” Qrow said sarcastically and rolled his eyes at Jaune, “if we hadn’t already tried that before. You think this is the first time they’ve done this? The only way we’re getting in is when they let us in.”

“Wait, Jaune!?” Jaune blinked at Summer calling his name and looked at the door as a small commotion happened inside.

“She’s going to open the door! Get ready!” Qrow said and lowered his stance, Taiyang doing the same just as the door opened outward. Qrow and Taiyang quickly ran inside, the blonde getting stepped on when Summer Blinked on top of him and used him to jump out into the hallway.

“Summer you bitch!” Raven cried just as Summer shut the door.

“Nora, chair!” Summer said and stepped out of the way so Nora could jam the door with her chair. Summer sighed in relief and turned to Jaune. “Hey Jaune, how are you?”

“Um, fine all things considered,” Jaune answered and jumped at the sound of a fight inside STRQ’s dorm.

“Ignore that. So, I can’t help but notice you’re with your team again. You done being an idiot about that?”

“Yeah, I guess. I’m sure I’ll be dumb about something else soon that I’ll need help with.”

“As long as you _get_ the help you need Jaune.”

“Yeah yeah, I learned that lesson.” Everyone turned to watch Pyrrha as she pushed herself to her feet breathing out the last of her laughs and wiped the tears from her eyes.

“I’m… I’m sorry. That was too funny.” Pyrrha opened her eyes and immediately narrowed them and tried her best to hold back laughter when she saw Summer smiling widely and holding up a sock puppet. It looked like Taiyang, blonde hair and all (ribbons included), and tilted its puppet head at her.

“What’s so funny Pyrrha?” Summer asked in her ‘Taiyang voice’ through the puppet, “all I’m doing is confessing my love for Qrow. I _love_ to smooch his face you know.” Pyrrha couldn’t take it and started cracking up again, leaning against the nearby wall to support her as she laughed. Summer hid the puppet behind her and smiled at Jaune. “I love her. So easy to entertain.”

“She’s even more fun to live with,” Nora said as she moved next to Pyrrha and poked her side, smiling at how Pyrrha shook and slid down the wall at the touch.

“I’m sure.”

“Actually, since you brought it up, there is actually something I wanted your help with Summer. I’ve been meaning to ask for a while but… we’ll, we’ve been busy.”

“Sure, I’ll help if I can. Excuse me?” Summer looked down at Nora who was crawling on the floor and reaching for the puppet on her right hand. Nora looked up at her and Summer said, “If you wanted the puppet, you just have to ask.”

“…Please?” Summer rolled her eyes slightly, took the puppet off, and put it in Nora’s outstretched hand.

“Be careful with him and I want him back.” Nora nodded, slipped the puppet on her hand, and crawled over to torture Pyrrha. “So what’s up?”

“Well, I’m sure you know that I’m not… quite the best at certain things.”

“We all know that Jaune, get to the point.”

“Wow, right for the jugular,” Nora commented while planting kisses on Pyrrha’s face with the puppet, very deliberately ignoring her pleas to stop.

“Right… alright then. I was hoping you could give me some pointers. You know, on being a leader? Just enough to figure out what I’m doing wrong.”

“That’s… not exactly something you can teach Jaune,” Summer said rubbing the back of her neck, “and like I said… actually that could work out. Are you busy tomorrow Jaune?”

“Huh? I mean, there’s classes and…” Jaune looked over at Pyrrha, who had managed to recover from her laughing fit and pushed Nora away long enough to nod at Jaune Ren started tickling her with a cattail. “I guess I can make time. Why?”

“I need to go on a quick trip tomorrow and I found it’s better with company. What do you say Jaune, want to come along?” Summer leaned forward a little with sly smile. “We can discuss those pointers along the way.”

“Um… sure! Just tell me when we’re going… and where?”

“I’ll figure out the ‘where’ tomorrow, and we’ll go after classes tomorrow. Change into your combat gear and make sure you bring your sword. You never know after all.”

“O-ok,” Jaune nodded and watched Summer walk over to Nora and hold her hand out, the latter huffing and handing back the sock puppet. “So… should the others be ready too or…?”

“No need, it’ll just be the two of us,” Summer answered and moved the chair away from her dorm door. “Thanks for agreeing Jaune, it’ll be fun tomorrow.” Summer gave one last smile to JNPR and opened the door.

“There she is!” Taiyang yelled from inside.

“Get her! Hog tie her!” Qrow added and ran to grab Summer.

“Whee!” Summer cheered as she was dragged inside and the door slammed behind her.

“Well, that was interesting,” Ren said standing up and grabbing his chair to move back into the room.

“Yeah, they certainly are good at keeping us entertained,” Jaune agreed and rubbed his arm, “but… just the two of us? I wonder why?”

“I think she just wants to make sure you understand what she wants to say,” Pyrrha offered as she stood up, “face to face talks usually are good for that.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Jaune chuckled to himself. _‘I really should learn to control those thoughts.’_

“Right, so don’t worry,” Nora said carrying her chair back into the room, “It’s not like she’s taking you on a date or anything.” Pyrrha and Jaune’s eyes widened and their minds cracked at the thought. When Ren glanced outside at his teammates standing stock still outside he shook his head and sighed.

“Nora…”

“What?”

* * *

Classes the next day went by unbearably slow for Jaune the next day, but when they were done you would have sworn he had left a hurricane in his wake as he ran back his dorm room. Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren were there not too long after and found him fussing over his clothing.

“I mean, what do you think?” he asked gesturing at himself. “Too casual? Not casual enough? I’m not really sure.”

“It’s not a date,” Ren said.

“I’m not saying it is!”

“She just said ‘combat clothes’,” Nora said walking over to Jaune and tugging on Jaune’s hoodie, “and besides, your combat clothes are very casual anyway.”

“But-“

“Jaune, just relax,” Pyrrha said gesturing her hands down, “you asked for this. So just go with the flow; it is Summer after all.”

“Right, you’re right. I’m just nervous I guess.” There was a knocking on the door, immediately causing Jaune to panic and rush to the bathroom yelling, “No, my hair is a mess!”

“It looks the same as it always does,” Nora said and looked at Pyrrha and Ren, who were giving her looks. “What?”

“Please stop making things worse Nora,” Pyrrha said and walked to the door and opened it, not noticing Nora give a questioning look at Ren. “Hi Summer, how are you?”

“Fine,” Summer said toying with her cloak, “is Jaune not ready yet?”

“He’ll be ready in a moment. You want to come in?”

“Nah, I’ll just wait out here for him.” Summer moved her cloak enough to check her weapons and pack. “Yep, all ready to go.”

“Um, so am I,” Jaune said peeking out of the bathroom door, which got everyone’s attention.

“You got your weapon?” Jaune walked out of the bathroom to his bed and held up Crocea Mors for Summer to see. “Good, let’s get going. I want to be on the next airship that’s leaving.”

“A-alright, coming!” Jaune said quickly and strapped Crocea Mors to his belt and followed Summer.

“Um, why don’t I escort you to the docks!” Pyrrha said running to join with Jaune. “I mean, so-“

“Ok,” Summer interrupted to Pyrrha’s shock, “who knows, you might even help me decide on where to go.” Pyrrha and Jaune looked at each other and followed after Summer with Nora calling “Have fun!” After them. They had gotten as far as the main thoroughfare to the docks when Summer’s scroll beeped. She pulled it out and sighed as she read the text.

“Damn, I forgot about the Dust,” Summer muttered and bit her thumb, “I don’t have time to go shopping for it though. The schedule is too tight.”

“Um… we can reschedule if you want,” Jaune said trying his hardest to hide his relief. Summer shook her head and dialed a number on her scroll.

“I have an idea. Come on,” she said waving Jaune and Pyrrha to follow her. She held her scroll to her ear and waited a moment for it to dial. When it picked up she said, “Hi, it’s Summer Rose. I know it’s not the best time considering what happened but… really? That’s nice of you.

“My team needs some Dust and I was hoping to place an order.” Summer stopped and looked back at Jaune and Pyrrha, a confused look on her face. “What do you mean you’re on your way? Well, I’m at the Beacon airship docks, but I don’t- hello?” Summer looked at her scroll and closed it. “He hung up on me.”

“Who did?” Pyrrha asked.

“The guy my team usually gets our Dust from. He’s a good guy, but he’s been going through some hard times and-“

“Do you guys hear music?” Jaune asked looking around confused. Summer and Pyrrha listened as well and indeed heard a faint music that was rapidly getting louder, along with squealing tires. The trio looked back the way they came and saw a large truck labeled ‘From Dust till Dawn’ round the corner of a building and drive down the pathway towards them. “Oh crap!” Jaune shouted and dove onto the grass, Pyrrha doing the same on the other side. Summer simply tilted her head to the side as the truck made a sharp turn and braked hard, coming to a stop a few feet away from her.

“Well that’s interesting,” Summer said as the music shut off and the side of the truck opened up to reveal Shopkeep who waved at Summer once it was open. “Oh hey, you move fast! Is this the uh… delivery service you were talking about?” He nodded and held a hand out to Summer. “Right, my order. Um…”

“I’m sorry, what!?” Jaune said pushing himself to his feet and gesturing to the truck. Summer looked at him and Pyrrha as they walked back onto the walkway along with Shopkeep, who glanced at Summer with a raised eyebrow.

“Right, I suppose I should introduce them. That’s Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos,” Summer said gesturing to both in turn, each waving at their name, “They are first years and part of Team JNPR. Coco and I have kind of taken them under our wing.” Shopkeep nodded and waved at the first years as Summer gestured at him. “And this is Old Man Shopkeep.” Summer stopped to look at him before shrugging and shaking her head, “he won’t tell us his real name. Aside from that he’s a nice guy and more often than not has exactly what you need.”

“Nice to meet you,” Pyrrha said and Jaune nodded.

“Anyway, I’ll have the STRQ standard please. I’m going out of town for the day so just have one of the others pick it up when it’s ready.” Summer took out a Lien card and handed it to Shopkeep, who took it with a nod and looked at Pyrrha and Jaune.

“Eh huh?” Shopkeep asked.

“…I’m sorry?” Jaune asked.

“He asked if you wanted anything while you’re here,” Summer said. When Jaune and Pyrrha looked at her she shrugged and added, “You get used to it.”

“Oh, um, I’m ok. I don’t use Dust to fight,” Jaune said waving his hand a little.

“Eh huh.” Shopkeep said, which Summer translated as, “He has more than just Dust. He has magazines, candy, comic books.”

“Do you have the latest X-Ray and Vav?” Jaune asked zooming right up to the window. Shopkeep nodded and ducked under for a moment before revealing a comic. The two quickly exchanged Lien and comic and Jaune jumped a little in joy. “Yes, something to read on the trip!” Shopkeep then looked at Pyrrha and smiled.

“Um… I guess I’ll take some .30 caliber flame rounds if you have them,” Pyrrha said and watched as Shopkeep pulled a box of rounds and held them out. She patted her skirt for a moment befoe cringing and saying, “Oh… um, I don’t really have money on me now…”

“Put it on my team’s tab then,” Summer said grabbing the box and holding it out to Pyrrha.

“Oh, I can’t take those if-“

“Pyrrha, don’t complain.” Summer shoved the rounds into Pyrrha’s hands and turned back to Shopkeep. “That just about does it. Thanks again for this.” Shopkeep nodded and gave Summer a thumbs up. “By the way, how is your shop doing?”

“Eh,” he replied waving his hand in a ‘maybe’ gesture.

“That bad huh? Well, I’m sure you’ll let us know when you’re open for business again. Thanks again for going out of your way for me.”

“Eh huh,” Shopkeep replied and shut the shutter.

“Oh don’t make me blush, we’re not your _best_ customers,” Summer said rubbing the back of her neck as the truck started. “We might want to get out of the way.” Summer, Pyrrha and Jaune quickly got onto the grass as the music started again and the truck drove away from them.

Right off the cliffs.

“I love that guy,” Summer said smiling while Jaune and Pyrrha naturally stared in horror at the cliff. They looked at Summer as she started walking to the airship docks and said, “Come on, they won’t hold for us forever.”

“HE JUST DROVE OFF THE CLIFF!” Jaune screamed pointing at the cliffs.

“Huh? What about it?”

“He could be dead!”

“Nah, he’s alright. I’ve seen him do some crazy things in the past, that’s pretty mild.”

“But still, he could be hurt!” Pyrrha said looking back at the academy, “we should tell a teacher or-“ she stopped when Summer put a hand on her shoulder and the other on Jaune’s.

“I’ll just tell you both this right now: you’ll see a lot of weird things in this job, and after a while, you just stop asking questions.” The utter seriousness in Summer’s voice stopped any protest from them and they silently followed her to one of the docked airships and the pilot who was staring over the edge.

“What the hell was that!?” she asked looking at Summer.

“That was Old Man Shopkeep,” she answered.

“The ‘From Dust Till Dawn’ guy?” Summer nodded and the pilot sighed. “Figures, this fucking city. So where are you going?”

“Business district.” The pilot nodded and walked into the airship with Summer right behind her. “Thanks for the walk Pyrrha!”

“Is it too late to back out?” Jaune asked worriedly and looked at Pyrrha.

“That’s up to you Jaune,” Pyrrha said. After a second Jaune sighed and walked onto the airship as well. The doors closed soon after, Summer and Jaune waving at Pyrrha, and it took off toward the city. Pyrrha sighed and looked down at the box of rounds in her hand. “I think I’ll just lie down for the day.”

Suddenly a set of hands slammed down on Pyrrha’s shoulders from behind, causing her to jump and stiffen in fear.

“Pyrrha, _good buddy,”_ Raven said from behind Pyrrha, “I need a favor from you.”

Pyrrha could only whimper in fear.

* * *

Jaune wasn’t sure exactly where in Vale he and Summer would end up going. When the ship landed and they started walking through the streets he couldn’t help but ask.

“Are we going to a café?” he asked.

“No, maybe some other day,” Summer replied.

“Well, how about a movie theater?”

“Nothing good is playing. Besides how am I supposed to help you out if we’re watching a movie?”

“Right, that was stupid. So where are we going?”

“Train station,” she answered which stopped Jaune in his tracks.

“What?” Indeed that is where they ended up. Jaune naturally was curious as to _why_ the train station was their first stop, which only increased when he saw Summer buy _one way_ train tickets. “Um… what!?”

“One way tickets are cheaper,” Summer explained handing a ticket to Jaune. She led him through the station, past train after train, and explained further, “And honestly I only need those considering the people I know.”

“The… _people_ you know…?” _‘Oh no, what does that mean? Criminals? Organ traffickers!? She seemed like such a nice girl!’_ Summer looked back at him and her face fell at the look of fear he had.

“Raven.”

“…Oh right, the portal thing.” Jaune hit himself with a fist and asked, “that doesn’t have like… a distance limit or something, right?”

“No, the only limit is a strong emotional bond with someone. Once she has that she can make a portal to them no matter where they are in the world. It’s really handy… and also problematic.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Oh, here’s our train.” Summer pointed at a train and quickly boarded it with Jaune. They showed their tickets to an attendant who waved them in and they sat down at a booth with a table a ways inside one of the cars, taking a moment to stash their weapons in the overhead compartment. “So like I was saying, she needs to have a bond with someone for it to work. Right now, that’s only me, Tai, and Qrow.”

“She doesn’t make friends easy, huh?”

“Blame the way she was raised. Anyway the problem comes with positioning; if we’re all together and need to be somewhere where one of us _was just at,_ and the portal just closed...”

“Ah, I get it.”

“Yeah, it’s a real pain in the ass.” Summer lowered her hood and rested her head in her hand as she looked out the window. “It’s nice to have, but we can’t really rely on it. Like a lot of things in this world.”

“Right.” The pair sat in silence, looking both outside and around the train until the train’s whistle blew. The train jerked as it started to pull out and Jaune quietly put his new comic on the table before asking, “So where _are_ we going?”

“Órga.”

“…Where?”

“Oh, sorry,” Summer shook her head and looked at Jaune. “Órga is a coastal down to the south of Vale. Its back is to the ocean, in between two mountains, it’s a nice little place. It’s got a nice beach too, so it’s a good vacation spot. Quite a ways away though, which is why we’re on the train.”

“Ok. And we _have_ to go there?”

“Well, we _could_ have gone to Patch, but… I wanted to go to Órga. It felt more appropriate.”

“I’ll just trust you on that,” Jaune shrugged and shielded his eyes as the train left the station and let the sun hit his eyes. He shifted in his seat a little and asked, “So about those pointers?”

“I suppose that is why we’re doing this, among others.” Summer pressed her fingers to her forehead and hummed in thought for a moment. Jaune decided to crack open his comic while Summer was lost in thought. He made it to page 5 before Summer snapped her fingers getting his attention back.

“How about this Jaune, I ask you a question and you have to answer it. You get three chances to answer, after which I’ll just tell you the answer. Deal?”

“Ok, but why?”

“I want to test your reasoning and deduction, both necessary for a leader. What do you say?”

Jaune shrugged and set his comic down. “Sure, it’ll make the ride go by faster I guess. What’s the question?”

Summer leaned forward with a small smile. “What’s the one place that we know the least about?”

“The… least?” Jaune asked scratching his head, which Summer answered with a nod. “Can you clarify?”

“There’s one place that the population of Remnant, Human and Faunus, no next to nothing about. What is that place?”

“Wouldn’t it be the continent north of Saunus? The… Grimmlands, I think?”

“Good guess, but wrong.” Jaune rolled his eyes as Summer continued, “Grimmlands is just a nickname for the continent you know. While it is true that _now_ we don’t know much about it, we do know some things. It used to be inhabited and even as recently as 10 years ago all the kingdoms were trying to establish colonies there. They never got further than the coast though, and even then The Creatures of Grimm fought back hard against all of them. Makes you wonder _what_ they’re so protective of, huh?”

“I… didn’t know about that. The colony thing I mean.”

“Nobody likes to remember the failures. So yeah, it’s _not_ the least known about place. Got another guess?”

“Can I think about it a little?”

“Sure, take your time answering. I guarantee that you’ll hate yourself when you know the answer; it practically stares you in the face.”

“Right. Well, I’ll let you know when I’m ready for another guess,” Jaune said and went back to reading his comic.

* * *

An hour into the trip both Jaune and Summer had read the comic and Jaune quickly found out he was no match for Summer in Amity Arena. After five rounds of that she showed him mercy and left to get some lunch and came back with a couple of trays of food. Jaune had tried to refuse it, but his stomach had other ideas so he took it and started eating. Naturally small talk started, which led into the current conversation topic of STRQ’s shenanigans from last year.

“No way, he didn’t!” Jaune said leaning forward wide eyed.

“Sure as hell he did!” Summer said giggling to herself, “Even now I’m so happy that day happened. Qrow is just amazing sometimes.”

“And he didn’t know!? How?”

“He and Raven grew up outside the kingdoms, so he _never_ saw a uniform before! Raven had enough common sense to figure it out, but when I got dressed and walked out I saw him holding the skirt up like this,” Summer stretched her arms out fully mock holding a skirt, “just looking befuddled! ‘Why do uniforms have to be so complicated?’ he said. Even socially inept me knew an opportunity when I saw it.”

“But the uniforms are unisex and customizable? Seriously?”

“And Tai, bless his heart, hopped right on that train with me. He said it was a kilt and started spinning this tale about how manly it was to wear that. I’m _so_ disappointed that Qrow didn’t fall for the line about it being more manly to wear it without underwear. _That_ would have been a sight.”

“And he bought the rest of it?”

“Hook, line, and sinker. He put on a girl’s uniform and wore it for the whole day. Our first class was with Professor Port, and it was just _the best thing ever!_ Qrow walks into class all confident and poor Port just stops dead. It’s the only time I’ve ever seen him speechless.”

“Wow, I wish I had seen that.” Really, just the image of Port being speechless would have been worth it.

“I do too. Port later told me that he had never, in his whole career as a teacher, seen something like that. Personally I don’t believe him, but his reaction supports it. He didn’t know what to do when Qrow sat down, so he just _left the classroom_ to laugh! We could hear those guffaws from the classroom, and Qrow didn’t catch on that it was because of him.”

“But he eventually did, right?”

“Yeah he did, but it took Ozpin for it to finally click. There was an assembly later that day and Ozpin was doing his usual speech, you know how those go.” Jaune nodded and Summer continued, “My team was in the front row and I was trying not to burst out laughing because of Qrow, along with a bunch of other students. Then Ozpin just stops his speech and looks at Qrow, not batting an eye, and asked ‘why are you wearing a skirt Mr. Branwen? It’ll be hard to work on your landing strategy like that.’ Qrow looks all confused, then it clicks and he glares hot death at me. I couldn’t take it, I just died laughing with Tai. Oz was at least nice enough to let Qrow go get changed.”

“He must have been mad. I know I would have been.”

“He was for a while, but he got over it. After that he was popular with _all_ the girls; he has better legs than most of them after all. Now it’s just another STRQ in-joke.”

“Man, I wish there was a picture or something.”

“Velvet took a picture and she’ll sell you one if you ask. The password is ‘kilt’. Your food is getting cold.”

“Oh crap,” Jaune said and quickly took a bite out of the roll. “I hope to have a bunch of in-jokes with my team like yours, like that ‘three for three’ thing. Anything other than ‘Vomit Boy’.”

“You’re just starting. You’ll have plenty in time. As for ‘three for three’, that’s another story entirely. I’ll tell you that one later.” Jaune nodded and happened to look out the window at a passing village and the station the train would have stopped at.

“We’re just going by there?” he asked leaning closer to the window. He noticed that more than a few buildings there were in terrible condition when he did.

“There’s no point. That village has been Forsaken for some time now,” Summer answered sadly.

“Um… what?”

“First time hearing that term too huh? Well, the name says it all: Forsaken.” Summer leaned to watched the village disappear behind the train before continuing. “There are places all over Remnant like that village: desolated so thoroughly by The Creatures of Grimm that they… changed. Have you ever been somewhere where you can just _feel_ the emotion in the air, all the sadness and anger that had tainted it?”

Jaune quickly thought to once such place, the dorm bathroom after some particularly _bad_ dinners, and shook his head. “No, at least not in the way you mean.”

“Well trust me, it’s not fun. If you ever find yourself somewhere like that you really need to be careful. Grimm are attracted to the Forsaken places and if you’re really unlucky you’ll come across one that’s the stomping ground of some really bad Grimm.”

“Um… examples?”

“Like the Nuckelavee, that’s a nasty one. Then there’s older Ursa Major and Alpha Beowolf nests, bad in their own rights. I even read things like Jabberwocks like to nest in bigger areas.”

“…What kind of stupid name is that?”

“Don’t let the name fool you, _every_ Grimm is dangerous.” Jaune nodded at that and looked outside again. He looked up at the Shattered Moon in the sky and quietly admired it for a moment.

 _‘Wait, maybe that’s the answer?’_ Jaune thought and pointed at the sky. “Space,” he said aloud.

“Hm?”

“The answer. Is it space?” Jaune said again pointing at the moon. Summer followed his finger and smiled at the moon before looking back.

“Closer, but not quite.”

Jaune rolled his eyes and asked, “Why not? We can’t even go up there because Dust doesn’t work that high up!” Summer blinked in surprise at Jaune and started clapping quietly. Jaune sighed and asked, “What’s with the polite applause?”

“I’m just surprised that you remembered that Jaune,” Summer said and smiled, “You didn’t seem the type.” It was Jaune’s turn to blink in surprise and he rubbed his nose in an effort to hide his blush. “It is true that Dust doesn’t work outside of Remnant’s atmosphere, but that doesn’t mean we don’t know anything about what’s beyond it. Atlas and, if you can believe it, Vacuo are home to the best telescopes on the planet and they’re constantly learning new things.

“For example, the Shattered Moon wasn’t always shattered. Something happened to make it that way; the folly of man maybe. And then there’s Ares, our closest neighboring planet: it’s only slightly smaller than Remnant, but probably enough to make the atmosphere completely uninhabitable even if we could get there.”

“I’m just learning all kinds of things today,” Jaune said and sighed loudly looking down at his food. “I have no idea what it is.”

“Like I said, you’ll kick yourself when you figure it out.” Summer checked her watch and nodded at the time. “We’ll be there soon, so how about another story?”

* * *

The train soon pulled into the station at Órga and Summer and Jaune got off into the bright sunshine and humidity. “Kinda regretting the hoodie,” Jaune said tugging on his collar as he followed Summer through the town. He gawked at the houses and shops they passed by, more than once stopping to inspect some of the local delicacies. And then there were the locals, specifically the children.

“It’s the rose lady!” the called once they noticed Summer. She smiled as they encircled her and laughed as a couple of them got under her cloak. “Why don’t you have any flowers?”

“It’s not the right day for that. I’m happy that you all remember me in any case. It’s been a while hasn’t it?”

“Who’s the guy rose lady?” a boy asked walking up to Jaune.

“He’s a friend of mine. I asked him to come along.” Summer knelt down and mock whispered, “he may look a little stupid, but he’s a good guy beneath it all. And yeah, he is a little thick.” Jaune sputtered a little while the children nodded and smiled at him.

“Can you play with us?” a girl asked with a smile.

“I’m sorry, but we have to go,” Summer replied standing up, “I have to meet with someone. It’s important.” The children moaned sadly until Summer put a hand on one of their heads. “Next time I come I’ll play with all of you. And maybe I’ll even have some homemade treats.” That boosted the children’s mood and they all let Summer and Jaune move on with parting waves.

“You come here often?” Jaune asked pointing back at the kids.

“No, but I may have made quite the impression the last time I was here. That tends to happen when you go anywhere with Coco and Velvet.”

 _‘I can see that,’_ Jaune agreed with a nod. “And ‘rose lady’?”

“I had a bouquet of roses the last time I came,” Summer said and looked back at Jaune sadly. “It was important.”

“O-ok,” Jaune nodded and continued following Summer. After a couple of seconds he asked, “And who are we meeting? I would have brought something if I had known.”

“It’s…” Summer started to say and stopped. Jaune walked up next to her and was taken aback when he saw she was close to crying. She looked at him and shook her head. “It’s not that simple Jaune. You’ll… you’ll see when we get to him.” Summer wiped at her eyes and started walking again, “Now please, no more questions until we get there.” Jaune didn’t say anything, instead followed after Summer deep in his own thoughts.

Buildings gave way to trees, pavement into dirt, and eventually both into sand. Jaune let out a small “Wow,” as he looked around the beach, golden sand contrasting well with the blue waters. It wasn’t just him admiring the beach, since there were plenty of other beach goers along the waves. He averted his eyes away from some of the swimsuits and focused on Summer as she walked to the edge of the water, stopping next to her. She lowered her hood and stared sadly at the ocean, blinking a couple of times as tears started streaming down her face.

“Are… are you ok?” Jaune asked putting a hand on Summer’s shoulder.

“Yeah. It’s just hard every time I come out here,” Summer answered and took a deep breath. “I told you once that it’s hard to give advice without being completely honest about myself. So… I’m going to drop some pretty heavy stuff on you so I can help you.”

“As long as you’re sure,” Jaune nodded and looked out at the ocean. He blinked and sighed in annoyance before saying, “And you’re right, I do feel kind of stupid. The answer’s ‘the ocean’ isn’t it?”

“Yes it is,” Summer nodded and clasped her hands behind her back. “We use the ocean for transport all the time, but we don’t actually know all that much about it. How damning is it that we know more about what’s _outside_ of our planet than the one thing that covers most of it?”

“Well, it kind of is, but we know some things.” Jaune gestured at the waves, “It’s… big, and… there’s a lot of Grimm out there.”

“The Grimm are the problem. Did you know that the Kingdom of Atlas has tried three times in the past to send a submarine down to map the ocean floor? One manned and two unmanned, and all three were destroyed by Grimm when they got below 1,000 meters. All hands were lost on the first one too. We don’t know what’s down there: Grimm bigger than Leviathans or Sea Feilongs, maybe even something worse. But I have my own theory.”

Summer moved her arms in front of her, clasping her left with her right, and asked, “Do you love your parents Jaune?”

“Well, of course I do. I mean, they may not be _happy_ with me since I… um…”

“Snuck into Beacon Academy with forged papers?”

“Well yeah, but…” Jaune’s eyes widened and he looked at Summer smiling wryly at him

“Nailed it. Don’t worry, your secrets safe with us. Raven and Qrow are in the same camp after all.”

“Um, thanks. But yeah, I love my folks.”

“You should call them, tell them that. Life is too short to spend on petty things like that, especially since you never know when you’ll lose them.” Jaune watched as Summer crouched down and started drawing in the wet sand. “My life… has been dominated by loss for as long as I can remember. There are happy moments yes, but they always seem to be overshadowed by loss.

“I’ve never met my mother. She was camera shy so I don’t have a picture of her, and I don’t even know her name. All I know about her is what my Dad told me: I got my looks from her, she was a Huntress, and she was on the same academy team as my Dad. When they graduated they just… drifted together and settled in some podunk town on the Vale-Vacuo border. They fell in love, got married, and had me. I was only a month old when she went on a hunt and never came back.”

“I-I’m sorry,” Jaune said sitting down next to Summer, “That must have been hard.”

“It was, for me and for Dad. He raised me all by himself with some help from the others in the village. He was one of the local Huntsman and… he was the best dad I could have asked for.” Summer sniffed as tears started welling up again and wiped at her eyes before going back to drawing. “He was always supportive, scolded me in just the right ways, and when I told him I wanted to be a Huntress like my mother he didn’t waste any time in coming up with a good training schedule to help me. He taught me everything I would need to know and more, and when I unlocked my Semblance he was right there to help me figure it out.” She sniffed again and looked out at the ocean. “I miss him so much.”

“He sounds great. You don’t have to say anymore if you don’t want to.”

“It’ll be alright. It helps to talk about this.” Summer took a breath and looked down at the drawing of a rose she drew in the sand that got washed away by the waves. “When I was eight, Grimm attacked the village. They were… ferocious and there were a lot of them. I was the only one who survived. I… saw Dad die right in front of me.” Summer couldn’t hold the sobs back at the old memory and started breaking down. Jaune quietly pulled her into a hug, which Summer was quietly thankful for. She cried for a few minutes with Jaune quietly giving her support and patting her on the back until she gently pushed away from him. “Have you… ever hated something Jaune?”

“That’s a difficult question,” Jaune said scratching his head, “I hate certain foods, being looked down on, not being able to help my friends…”

“Not what I meant. I’m talking about a hate that just grabs hold of your heart and refuses to let you go, no matter how hard you try to get away from it.”

“No, I haven’t.”

“And I hope that you never do. It’s a horrible feeling to be caught in that kind of deep hatred. It changes you.” Summer shifted on her feet to sit down before continuing, “On my good days it just felt like I was constantly being weighed down, slow and sluggish even when I wasn’t. On bad days, it felt like I was drowning and the surface was constantly out of reach. On the worst days… I enjoyed that feeling. Even now I can feel it still there, just waiting for the right fuel to ignite.”

Summer grasped at her chest over her heart and grit her teeth. “I _hate_ the Creatures of Grimm. Those monsters that took away my dad, my friends, my village, _everything_ I ever cared about for no reason other than that’s just what they do. I’d love nothing more than to see them all _eradicated_ from the world!” Summer took a deep breath and lowered her hand. “I nearly ruined my life, not to mention my teammates, because I was so consumed by that hatred.” Summer then stood up and smiled despite the tears as she looked own at Jaune. “That’s why I’m so thankful to have people like you in my life Jaune.”

“M-me?” Jaune sputtered.

“I don’t consider myself a good person Jaune, especially a year ago, but despite that there were people who stood by me through it all. Taiyang, Qrow, Raven, Coco and her team, and Ozpin most of all. Thanks to them I managed to heal from that, to move on and not be consumed by that hatred.”

“Ozpin?”

“He saved me from the Grimm when I was eight, even helped me bury my dad the way he wanted to. I found out later that he broke _a lot_ of protocol when he did so, all to help a girl who lost her father find some measure of peace. I got housed at Signal after that and Ozpin always made sure I was doing ok; checking on me through the staff, the occasional birthday present when he found out when it was, all the way up to now. He’s not a perfect man, but he is a good one. It’s nice knowing that someone is there to help bear all that weight, not just Ozpin but all of my friends. And now I consider you among them.”

“Well, thanks for trusting in me,” Jaune said nodding and looking out at the ocean. “How did your dad want to be buried?”

“At sea,” Summer said and reached into her pouch and pulled out a bottle. Jaune tilted his head when he saw a roll of paper inside of it. “It’s something that my Mom believed, which was passed to Dad, and then to me.” Summer lifted her free hand and wiggled it a little as it glowed with Aura. “Souls are a weird thing, no one really knows what they’re made of. Mom believed that souls move easier through water than anything else, and that the Grimm are so protective of the ocean for that very reason. If you go down far enough, you might be able to meet the souls of those who’ve passed.”

“And it’s easier to get there the way your dad was buried? That’s kind of complicated isn’t it?”

“I suppose… but at the very least it helps me rest easy. I like to think that Mom and Dad found each other and that they’re happy. Summer took a breath and walked up to the waves and set the bottle in them. Jaune stood up and watched the bottle drift into the ocean with Summer. “I try to write a letter to Dad every month, just to let him know I’m doing ok and how my life is going. I told him about you and your team too. I think he would have liked you.”

“I’m glad you have that faith in me.”

“Of course I do, you should have faith in yourself.” Jaune blinked and looked at Summer. “Being a leader is difficult Jaune, and there’s no perfect or right way to do it. You’re not like me, I’m not like Coco, and none of us are like Cardin.” The pair chuckled a little at that. “Just do your best, and trust in your team to help you out.”

“And if I make mistakes?”

“Learn from them and try harder.”

“Of course, the stock answer,” Jaune nodded and smiled. “But you’re right. I think I’ve spent too much time worrying about stuff instead of leading. I have a lot of work to do to improve myself.”

“We all do Jaune, it’s a constant process.” Summer put a hand on Jaune’s shoulder. “Just keep at it and you’ll see results in no time.” Jaune nodded and Summer took her hand off of his shoulder and looked back to the ocean, the bottle now a speck on the horizon.

“Thanks for taking me out here,” Jaune said and looked at Summer, “Really.”

“No problem,” she replied and looked back at him with a smile. Jaune blushed at the sight and looked away with a small chuckle, scratching his cheek. And then his stomach growled loudly. Jaune’s eyes widened before his face fell flat while Summer laughed. “Still hungry Jaune?”

“Maybe a little,” he replied pinching his fingers together, “train food isn’t very filling.” Summer laughed again and walked past Jaune tapping his shoulder.

“Follow me. There’s a seaside shack not far from here, it’s got some great paella. It’ll be on me.”

“Uh, ok,” Jaune said and jogged after Summer, “but what’s paella?”

“You’ll see.”

* * *

“Man, this stuff is great!” Jaune complimented as he scarfed down the seafood dish, barely remembering to swallow before talking. He looked up at Summer, who had finished her own bowl and was watching him in amusement, and held up his nearly empty bowl and asked, “Would it be ok if I got more?”

“Sure, it’s only my Lien,” Summer said with a roll of her eyes and placed a Lien card down. “For real though, I’m just happy to spread the joy of food.” Jaune nodded, scarfed the remaining food down, and stood up taking the Lien card over to the counter. Summer chuckled at him and looked out at the ocean, the sunset reflecting amazingly off the water while several beach goers were packing up their belongings for the day. “And here I am without a camera. Oh well, at least the memory will stay with me.” Summer glanced over for a second as Jaune sat down and immediately dug into his paella just as Summer’s watch started beeping. She checked her watch and winced when she saw the time.

“Yikes, that late already? We should probably be getting back soon.” She looked back at Jaune, who was looking pathetically between her and his bowl, and she shook her head. “Not right this minute Jaune. Still I should let Raven know we’re just about ready, ok?” Jaune nodded and returned to his food while Summer took her scroll out and dialed Raven. She held it up to her ear and listened to it dialing for a moment before she answered.

 _“H-hello, who is it?”_ Raven said.

“It’s Summer. Did you not check who it was?”

_“I’m kind of in the middle of something right now. What is it?”_

“Well we’re done here, so whenever you’re ready you can take us back.”

_“Now!? Can it wait a few minutes?”_

Summer looked at Jaune stuffing his face and nodded to herself, “Yeah, I can wait a few minutes.”

 _“Good, it’ll only be five.”_ The call ended and Summer put away her scroll and go back to watching Jaune eat. Soon Jaune was done eating and Summer dragged him onto the beach, giving him a quick explanation of the call. After a minute of quietly waiting a red and black portal opened next to Summer and she looked at Jaune.

“After you Jaune,” she said gesturing as such. Jaune swallowed and stepped up to the portal, inspecting the portal closely.

“It is safe, right?” he asked looking back at Summer.

“Don’t make me kick you in Jaune,” Summer replied kicking one of her feet into the sand. Jaune nodded and, after a deep breath, faced the portal and jumped into it. He came out the other side with a yelp and barely kept his footing in the dark room.

“Ok, that was really cool,” he said aloud and looked back at a small ‘woosh’ as Summer walked out, her white cloak sticking out a little better in the dark.

“You don’t have to jump into it Jaune,” she said as the portal closed behind her and looked around the darkness. “Who killed the lights?”

And then the lights came on.

“SURPRISE!”

Jaune and Summer jumped into each other’s arms screaming as a flash blinded them temporarily. When they were done it was replaced with laughter from the remainder of STRQ, JNPR, and Team CFVY.

“Oh that’s a great shot!” Velvet said holding up her camera for Coco to see.

“What the hell!?” Summer said getting away from Jaune and pointed at the crowd, “Are you trying to give me a-“ Summer trailed off when she saw a cake on a table in the middle of the room, white frosting and red letters spelling out ‘Happy Birthday Summer’. “Huh?”

“Happy early birthday Sum,” Qrow said walking up and throwing an arm around Summer’s shoulder, “you only have yourself to blame.”

“And thank you,” Raven added pointing at Jaune, “for giving us an opening for this.”

“I… didn’t know?” Jaune replied.

“No, but we took advantage.” A party blower sounded and Summer looked at Nora wearing a party hat and dancing.

“Why didn’t you tell us it was your birthday?” Nora asked zooming up to Summer, “We didn’t even have time to get you a present!”

“That’s because my birthday’s July 20th!” Summer said pushing Qrow and Nora away a little and looked at her team, “Why the early celebration?”

“Again, you can only blame yourself,” Qrow said shaking his head, “you didn’t say anything about your birthday last hear, so we’re having both now.”

“That doesn’t make any-“

“There’s a better reason too,” Taiyang interrupted and pulled a slip of paper from his back pocket, “one you’ll _definitely_ agree that’s worth celebrating.”

“And that would be?” Summer said and had the slip of paper shoved in her face, which she quickly read. “To the members of Team STRQ, I would like to congratulate you on your hard work, blah blah blah. Um, completed all remedial credits for your second year. Once again congratulations, signed Professor Ozpin.” Summer stared at the note for a moment before her eyes widened and she looked at Taiyang’s grinning face and Raven and Qrow’s pleased smirks. “We’re free.”

“We’re free,” Taiyang agreed with a nod.

“WE’RE FREE!” Summer shouted and leapt at Taiyang, wrapping her arms around his neck and throwing him off balance. He tried to keep his balance by waving his arms but failed and crashed to the ground with Summer, Velvet descending on them snapping away with her camera.

Jaune, who had been staring in surprise as these events unfolded, was knocked out of his stupor by Ren tapping him on the shoulder and holding out a slice of cake on a paper plate out to him. “Thanks,” he said taking the plate and smiling at Ren, who returned it with a nod and walked away to keep Nora under control.

“So,” Pyrrha said from behind, which cause Jaune to jump a little, “How was your trip with Summer?”

“It… it was good,” Jaune said nodding slightly looking down at the cake in his hands, “we just kind of talked a lot and… well, I learned quite a bit. How was your day?”

“Raven ambushed me… again… and pretty much forced me to help but this together.” Pyrrha and Jaune looked as Yatsuhashi picked Summer off the ground and set her on her feet, which she used to immediately Blink toward Fox and tackle hug him to the ground with a yell. “And you know what, it was worth it. I just wish she would stop scaring me every time she needs me for something.”

A pair of hands slammed down on Pyrrha’s shoulder from behind her, causing her to scream and draw the attention from everyone else in the room. Raven started laughing and pulled Pyrrha into a hug from behind and putting her head next to Pyrrha’s.

“You want me to stop scaring you Pyrrha, then stop making it fun to scare you ,” Raven said jokingly and patted Pyrrha’s cheek twice before pulling away and walking to lean on Qrow to watch Summer attack Team CFVY with hugs one at a time.

“So…” Nora started saying and pointed at Jaune with cake stabbed fork, “what did you guys talk about?”

“That’s… it’s kind of personal actually. I don’t think it’s my place to say.” Jaune looked back at Summer and smiled at how wide she was smiling despite Coco having her in a head lock. “Maybe you’ll find out next month, who knows?”

“Ugh, I hate waiting!” Nora whined and took a bite of cake.

“It’ll be worth it. What kind of cake is this anyway?”

* * *

A bottle floated on the waves of the ocean before sinking down into the dark depths, the contents known only to the girl who wrote it.

_Dear Dad,_

_It’s good to write to you again. I’m sorry I haven’t for a while, things have been kind of busy for me. Remedial lessons are such pain to deal with. Aside from that, the legend of Team STRQ is still building and growing strong. Tai is still the same as when I last wrote; not flirting nearly as much anymore, thank goodness, but that means he getting better at thinking of better ones. Dork. At least he’s stopping with the dad jokes for now._

_Raven and Qrow are just about the same, though Rae pulled a really stupid stunt a couple days ago. Someone nearly got hurt really bad, but it kind of worked out for the best. I still gave her an earful though. Qrow is the same dour individual he’s always been and somehow got a new flask after I tossed the old one out at Glynda’s request. Where does he get these things? It’s probably something only I have to deal with._

_I’ve decided to bring Jaune Arc along when I deliver this letter to you. I wrote about him before; Team JNPR’s leader, blonde mophead, kind of dense. He’s getting a lot better though, especially recently, so I’m glad I decided to keep at it with him. I can’t wait to see where he and his team can go._ _Oh and I'm doing well with Coco's team as well. I think I'm starting to get a good handle on reading Coco and getting what she's thinking._

_And then there’s my work with Professor Ozpin. I never realized how many secrets there were in the world, especially with what I learned at the start of the year. I think I found your killer, a Creature of Grimm old enough to have been around since the Great War that Oz calls the ‘Death General.’ I have a lot of work to do if I want to kill it. It took everything in me to simply run from it, let alone fight, and it was too close even then. It’s not alone either, there are three others and one of them was the one that destroyed Qrow and Raven’s tribe. Despite how strong they all seem to be, I still want to face them down. I still have a promise I made to Rae; hold it down so she can kill it, and I intend to keep it._

_I miss you so much. It gets really hard some days, but I’m still pushing on like I promised you. Like always, I hope you found mom and are happy with her. I hope you read these letters I send and are proud of what I’ve done. Sometimes I wonder about if I’ll ever see you when my times comes, but my life has only just started. After how the year has gone, I have a good feeling that it’ll only get better despite the bumps._

_Your baby girl forever, Summer Rose._

* * *

Deep in one of the many woods in the Kingdom of Vale, there was a camp buzzing with activity. Some of them wore the standard issue masks of the foot soldiers, most didn’t in the safety of the camp, but all of them wore the white and black uniforms of the White Fang. All except for one, who was slowly making her way through the camp clad in her red ceremonial robes while Faunus in her way quickly darted out of it. While she didn’t smile on the outside, she did on the inside and tried to keep her cat tail from swaying a little _too_ much as she approached the camp leader’s tent.

She ducked under the flaps of the tent and glanced around the room before locking onto the red headed Bull Faunus that was sitting at a low table with his mask on it in the center of the room, his back to her while he ran a whetstone over his crimson sword. “Brother Adam?” she asked out loud.

Adam paused in sharpening his sword and picked up his mask and put it on his face before standing up and looking back at her, the ‘herald of Kuroshara’ that had situated herself into the camp. “What is it?” he asked.

“Kuroshara wants to talk to you. She said it was important.” Adam took a breath and shook his head before waving the herald to go on. She nodded and closed her eyes and then doubled over in pain, barely keeping on her feet as her fingernails dug into her hooded head. She let out a few low cries before stopping, her arms falling down limply, and stood up straight. Adam looked at her as she opened her eyes and looked at him, her lilac eyes now bright red and the white a deep black. “ **Hello Adam, it’s nice to see you again.** ”

 _‘That echo, it’s definitely her.’_ “What do you want?” Adam asked motioning a little with his sword.

 **“Not even a friendly hello for me?”** the herald asked, mocking and playful before smiling, **“Ah, but that is partially why I like you Adam. You get straight to the point, unlike people like Sienna Khan.”**

“Stop buttering me up, get to the point already.” _‘I hate talking with her, she does this every time.’_

 **“Fine. I have information that will greatly benefit your efforts here in Vale. The Schnee Dust Company is sending a freighter to Vale to shore up its… dwindling Dust supplies. It’s due to arrive sometime in the next two weeks, I unfortunately don’t know the exact date.”** The herald moved closer to Adam and leaned forward to better get a look at his mask. **“I think we can both agree that _we_ can use that Dust better than Vale, hm?”**

“But we won’t actually be the ones stealing it, right?”

 **“No, our associate Roman Torchwick will be the one handling that. We’ll just be providing the manpower.”** The herald stood up and rubbed her chin, **“And thank you for the reminder Adam, I do need to inform him of this.”**

“Fine, I’ll handle it,” Adam said turning away from the herald and picking up his scabbard. He sheathed his sword and glanced back at the herald staring at him. “Why are you still here?”

**“You’re still hurting.”**

“What are you talking about?”

 **“Don’t hide it from me Adam. Even without that mask I can see how much pain you’re in.”** The herald walked over to Adam, who had stiffened up at her words, and she placed a hand softly on his chest. **“You’re still not over Blake Belladonna, are you?”**

“DON’T!” Adam screamed, glaring at the herald under his mask and his hands clenched tight before stopping and taking a breath. “Don’t you dare talk about her.”

 **“Oh Adam, don’t assume I don’t know your pain,”** the herald chided and put her other hand on Adam’s chest. **“She was a black cat, which means she was under my protection. I cared about her far more than you did, but unlike you I moved on.”** Adam grit his teeth as the herald pushed off him and took a step back. **“Tell me Adam, how much did it hurt when Blake killed herself?”**

“Stop.”

**“How did it feel standing there on that train when she blew her brains out, knowing that you couldn’t have stopped it?”**

“Stop it!”

 **“How does it feel knowing that she did it because of you?”** Adam couldn’t take it after that, quickly drawing his sword and swinging it at the herald and stopping just an inch away from the herald’s neck. They stood like that for a few seconds, barely moving aside from breathing, until the herald smiled toothily and grabbed the blade. **“Really, you would take a swing at one of _my heralds?_ ”**

It happened faster than Adam could blink as the herald pushed the blade away and took a step toward him, hooking her right leg around his and pushing just right to send Adam right to the ground. He slammed into the ground, lost his grip on his sword, and rolled onto his back just in time to find the tip of his sword pointed at his neck. Adam took gasped and took a couple of deep breaths as he stared at the herald’s eyes, more disappointed than anything.

 **“That, Adam… is another reason why I like you,”** she said with a smile and moved the blade away from Adam. **“You’re not a slave to tradition, and if it gets in the way of your goals you toss them aside. That’ll get you very far Adam, as long as you remember some of those traditions are there for a reason. My heralds are always under my protection, and harming them means crossing _me_. And I can hurt you _far worse_ than the bullet that killed Belladonna ever could.”** The herald inspected the sword, grabbed the blade, and held it out to Adam handle first. **“As long as you remember that, and do as your told, you’ll get everything you ever wanted and more. Understand?”**

Adam slowly nodded and grabbed his sword from the herald and pushing himself up to his feet. He sheathed his sword and said, “I think five squads should be enough for your job. I’ll get them together and send them out immediately. Is there anything else?”

 **“If something does come up, you’ll know. Until next time we meet Adam.”** The herald nodded and doubled over in pain again, coughing harshly as she looked up with her eyes back to normal. “Oh, ecstasy!” she whispered and walked slowly out of the tent, her hands pawing at her face as she giggled.

 _‘Everything I want?’_ Adam thought and looked at the map of Remnant that was pinned to the side of the tent, _‘you can get me most of it, but not everything.’_ He adjusted his mask slightly and turned to leave his tent, already knowing who he should send to Vale.


	17. Team Based Tactical Training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Or: How Pyrrha learned to stop worrying and love the bomb.

“Another week, another day of school uniforms,” Nora said as she spun around to show off her uniform to her team. “Still cute, right?”

“Yes Nora, like every other time you’ve done that,” Jaune said rolling his eyes and finished adjusting his die, “now come on, I don’t want to be late again. Especially after last night.”

“I still can’t believe Summer and the others weren’t exaggerating about how hard they party,” Ren said to himself and opened the door for his team, “I hope they are able to get up after that.”

“Maybe we should check on them,” Pyrrha suggested and started walking to STRQ’s door, which slammed open just as she walked out and startled Pyrrha into the air and into Nora’s arms.

“I fucking forgot what week it was,” A very disgruntled Summer Rose said walking out in her combat clothes, the rest of her team following her in theirs.

“I want to die,” Taiyang muttered rubbing his eyes.

“Just when we were done with remedials too,” Raven sighed.

“Always something. Why are you guys in uniform?” Qrow asked pointing at JNPR.

“Because…” Pyrrha started saying as Nora set her down, “We’re going to class?”

“Not this week you’re not. Double check your schedule.” Nora quickly zoomed into her room and came out with the schedule book as Jaune Ren and Pyrrha crowded around her.

“Let’s see… ‘Team based tactical training seminars’ are this week,” Nora read and pressed her finger on one part of the page, “uniforms are not required.” JNPR looked at each other before stepping back into their room so Jaune could shut the door. A few seconds of loud chaos later and they came back out in their combat clothes and Nora threw the schedule over her shoulder. “That was a close one.”

“You would have just had to come back to change,” Summer said lifting her hood over her head, “Now come on, let’s get this shit over with.” Summer led the way for everyone down the hallway still very much not in a good mood.

“So… what are we doing this week?” Pyrrha asked leaning to get a good look at the upperclassmen, “something about team tactics?”

“In the purpose of promoting cooperation between teammates, one week will be set aside to focus on the fundamentals of team based combat training and tactics,” Qrow quoted and sighed, “in layman’s terms, we’re going to spend the rest of the week fighting four on four team battles with no year discrimination ‘to make us work better as a team’.”

“And… that’s bad?”

“Says the gladiator of the group,” Raven said rolling her eyes, “you’re probably used to these kinds of fights.”

“…Not team fights.”

“Trust me Pyrrha,” Taiyang said looking back at Pyrrha, “when you get your ass kicked by senior teams who’ve learned not to hold back for five days straight, you’ll hate this week too.”

“I see,” Jaune said and sighed as she slouched down like Summer, “let’s get this over with then.”

* * *

STRQ and JNPR soon left the dorms and joined a legion of other teams as they all walked to one of arenas used for combat training. Pyrrha noticed that a good number of other students were wearing the exact same face that STRQ was wearing as they walked into the arena. She spotted Team CFVY sitting a ways up (again, with the same faces of bored dread) and sat with them, STRQ on one side and JNPR on the other.

“You guys forgot it was this week too?” Summer asked and sighed when CFVY all nodded.

“Maybe we should have saved that party for _after_ this week,” Velvet sighed out.

“Too late for that,” Fox replied, “For now let’s just bear with it.”

“It’s not going to be _that_ bad, right?” Pyrrha asked comfortingly.

“Your cheer makes me angry,” Raven growled out.

“Knock it off!” Jaune said leaning forward to glare at Raven, “Just because you don’t share her optimism doesn’t mean you get to brow beat her over it.”

“It’s fine Jaune,” Pyrrha said waving Jaune down missing Raven roll her eyes, “but thank you in any case.”

“It kind of isn’t,” Nora added shaking her head, “but let’s all look on the bright side, this week might actually not be all that bad!” The ambient noise of chatter from the gathered students came to a slow halt when Professor Port, holding his hands behind his back out of sight of the students, and Oobleck walked out onto the floor in front of the gathered students. “Oh,” Nora said, her face falling flat.

“You were saying Vomit Boy?” Raven asked.

“STOP _CALLING ME THAT!”_ Jaune yelled loud enough to echo through the whole arena (and caused Velvet and Fox to cover their ears).

“Well it’s good to see some of you still have some enthusiasm!” Port said in the quiet caused by Jaune’s shout. “How are you doing students?”

Dead silence was his only answer.

Oobleck cleared his throat and said, “Yes well, as you all know this week we are doing team based tactical exercises. You’ve all had some time to get used to each other so I’m sure you all know what your teammates will do in a fight. These exercises will ensure that. I hope that you all are ready!”

Dead silence again, at least until a certain black haired student yelled “Eh Yeah!” and held a fist up in the air. Like the last time he did this, the answer was silence from everyone else but one girl.

“Sit down Jerry!” Raven shouted at the student, who did as he was told.

“Ah, our first volunteer! Thank you for volunteering your team Raven!” Port said and laughed heartily.

“Jerry! I’m going to beat you to death!” Raven screeched and stood up, having to be held back by Taiyang and Qrow from rushing Jerry as he tried to hide behind a girl.

“We’ll be refereeing for you all like our colleagues in the other arenas. So who’s ready for some high stakes, high energy team battles so you can learn to work better with your teammates?” No sound from the assembled students save for Raven still trying to escape from her male teammates clutches which, if the closer students were being honest, was far more entertaining than anything the professors could say. “Good, because we’re not doing that this week!”

Unless they said _that_. Raven stopped struggling and looked at Port and Oobleck curiously along with the entire crowd. “That got your attention,” Oobleck mused with a chuckle and pushed up his glasses. “Well, due to some… extenuating circumstances on the academy’s part, the staff have decided to mix up this week’s team training exercises. It will still be team based, but I’m sure you all will appreciate the change of pace.”

“Where is he going with this?” Coco asked sliding her sunglasses down a little and glanced at Summer, who simply shrugged.

“Oh yes, I’m sure _all_ of you will like doing this,” Port said laughing again, “It’s something you all know about, probably are huge fans of it too.”

“Fans?” Velvet wondered and looked at Fox, “You don’t think…?”

“I’m not getting my hopes up,” Fox replied shaking his head.

“After all, it _is_ the most popular sport on Remnant.”

“Ok, never mind,” Fox corrected perking up immediately.

“No way,” Summer whispered wide eyed.

“Sport?” Pyrrha asked.

“That’s right, for this week only,” Oobleck said, “you’ll all be learning team based tactics using _the_ sport of Remnant…” he looked at Port, who triumphantly lifted his right hand to show a large, gunmetal green ball about as big as his head. The students in the front row all gasped loudly while the ones in back wondered if that was actually a-

“Grifball!” Port shouted, the word echoing in though the still arena.

“What?” was Pyrrha’s response, though everyone else’s response was a deafening cheer that made her jump. Summer, Raven, Ren, Jaune, everyone roared in approval, with Yatsuhashi being the most subdued with energetic clapping.

“I can’t fucking believe it! They did it!” Summer yelled and hugged Taiyang.

“You think Oz actually listened to that petition?” Taiyang asked.

“Hell no!”

“Well this week just took an instant 180,” Coco said adjusting her beret and looking at Jaune, “And you look especially excited Jaune.”

“Of course I am, my whole family are big fans,” Jaune said with a large grin, “and one of my sisters is in the minor leagues.”

“No kidding.”

And in the middle of all this reverie was Pyrrha, alone and confused.

“Well,” Port said lowering the ball and clearing his throat, “let’s start with a quick game that will help those not so familiar with the rules understand better. Since Team STRQ has already volunteered for the first game, we’re going to need another volunteer team. Any takers?” The room quieted a little at that, but there was one voice that was louder than all of them.

“Juniper! Team JNPR volunteers!” Jaune shouted waving is arms over his head.

“Now that’s enthusiasm! Team STRQ and JNPR will play the first match. Come on down so we can get you ready.”

“Yes!” Jaune said pumping a fist and looking as Team STRQ stood up and started walking down to the arena floor followed by Nora and Ren. Jaune started to follow them when Pyrrha grabbed his arm to stop him. He looked down at her to see her wide eyed with shrunk irises staring dead ahead. “Pyrrha? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know what this is,” she whispered.

“Huh?” Jaune asked quirking an eyebrow while CFVY looked at her.

“I don’t know what this is,” Pyrrha repeated looking up at Jaune. It took Jaune a second of thinking before his eyes widened in understanding.

“You’ve… never heard of Grifball? At all?” Jaune asked, to which Pyrrha responded by shaking her head no. His eyes widened just a little more in worry and tried his best to ignore Coco’s chuckles as he waved a hand and said, “Uh, well, don’t worry Pyrrha! Seriously though?” Pyrrha nodded. “It’ll be ok, it’s actually an easy game to understand. I’ll give you a run down while we get ready.”

“Thank you,” Pyrrha said standing up and following Jaune stiffly.

“Oh, this is going to be beautiful,” Coco said laughing at the sight and tenting her fingers in front of her.

_“Coco, your troll is showing,”_ Fox said to her telepathically.

_“Don’t care Fox,”_ she said back.

* * *

“Ok so, Grifball. Like I said, pretty easy to get,” Jaune started while Pyrrha listened intently while Nora started putting bits and pieces of metal all over her clothes. “Two teams of four, colored red and blue, go head to head over possession of the Grifball, which is the ball that Professor Port has,” Jaune pointed at said professor, who had just set the ball in the middle of the court with a nod, “and the goal is to get the ball into the other team’s goal, which is this thing here.”

“Ok,” Pyrrha nodded as Jaune tapped a metal X on the ground with a foot and looked herself over when Nora stopped adding things. “And what’s all this for?”

“To protect you from the weapons silly,” Nora answered and started adding bits to herself.

“W-weapons!?” _‘No one said anything about that! I left Miló in my locker and-‘_

“Yeah, thanks for reminding me Nora,” Jaune said interrupting Pyrrha’s train of thought, “each team player has one of two weapons: a hammer and a sword both loaded with Gravity Dust. Oh yeah, and if you’re carrying the ball you have to put your weapon away. These armor pieces react to the Dust and knock you back. Good fun without getting hurt.” Jaune then snapped his fingers and added, “Oh, and they do this,” and flipped a switch on the left arm guard, turning the armor on. After a second of blinking his clothing shimmered and turned into various shades of blue and Jaune turned around so Pyrrha could see it all.

“Wha- that’s incredible!” Pyrrha marveled and turned on her own armor so her own clothing could change color as well. “Who made these?”

“The Kingdom of Atlas,” Ren answered walking to join Jaune and Pyrrha, his own clothing color changed as well. “When the Remnant Grifball league of Remnant was established, Atlas created these in order to help smooth along game time. Apparently this is easier than just changing clothes.”

“They… they created this amazing piece of technology _for a game!?_ W-what about their military or the Huntsman? Wouldn’t that be a better use for this?”

“Don’t be silly Pyrrha,” Jaune said waving a hand, “of course they use it for that stuff.”

“But mostly it’s used for Grifball,” Nora said hopping next to Ren, who nodded in agreement.

To say Pyrrha was blown away by that would be an understatement. She managed to get her thoughts together enough to ask, “So how is the game won?”

“Put the ball in the opponents goal to score a point and end the round. The team with the highest score after nine rounds wins,” Jaune said.

“Oh ok, that sounds easy enough.”

“Yeah, it’s actually playing the game where it gets difficult.”

“Going over the rules before the game huh? Excellent!” JNPR looked over at Oobleck as he dragged a small cart of weapons to them, “Now the final setup for you is weaponry! Who wants what?”

“Gimme a hammer!” Nora said drooling and grabbing at the hammers.

“I guess I’ll take a sword,” Jaune said cautiously and scratched the back of his head, “I don’t really trust myself with much else. Ren, what do you-?” Jaune paused when he saw Ren already hefting a hammer over his shoulder, his face dead serious.

“They will not cross the line,” he said stoically.

“…Right, you do that Ren!” Jaune gave Ren a double thumbs up and turned back to Pyrrha, “then that makes you our last sword Pyrrha.”

“Ok,” Pyrrha nodded and jumped back a little when Oobleck shoved a sword toward her that she took carefully. Oobleck dashed away while Pyrrha looked the sword over; a simple broadsword that was humming with Gravity Dust and glanced at Nora looking her own hammer over, similar but not quite as elaborate as her own Magnhild. “So… is there anything else I need to know?”

“Recovery and Semblances,” Nora answered swinging the hammer over her shoulder, “And… that’s pretty much it! Recovery is easy: you get smashed, you get knocked away and lose your color.” Nora demonstrated by turning her armor off, restoring her clothing to their normal color. She then gestured at a little square around the goal and added, “When that happens, you come back to this little area around the goal and wait five seconds. After that, color comes back and you can play again.” Nora turned the armor back on and looked at Pyrrha seriously. “Don’t try and play before that, you’ll get penalized.”

“Ok, and Semblances?”

“Don’t use them, period. If you do, round ends and the other team gets the point.”

Pyrrha nodded at that, she hadn’t been planning on using her Semblance for this anyway. “Ok, I think I got all of that. I’m still a little nervous though.”

“Hey, don’t be,” Jaune said and put a hand on Pyrrha’s shoulder to comfort her, “we’re only going against Summer and the others. I’m sure they’ll see it’s our first game and go easy on us. The whole thing is just for fun after all.”

“Yeah, um…” Nora said and pointed at STRQ, Jaune and Pyrrha looking at them just as Summer grabbed the hem of her cloak and ripped it off in one motion. The white fabric hung in the air before settling behind Summer and her teammates, Taiyang and Qrow holding hammers and Raven with a sword at the ready, all of them looking serious. Summer silently turned her armor on, turning her black combat dress red, and grabbed her sword’s handle that had been planted point down into the ground and pulled it out. She looked up at JNPR, took a practice swing, and drew a thumb across her neck.

“Ok, they actually want to kill us,” Jaune corrected and looked back at Pyrrha who was suddenly looking terrified. _‘Oh crap!’_ “Uh, but they’re still our friends! It’s just a game and they won’t go too far. We still got this!” Jaune held up his sword and smiled widely before looking at Nora and asking, “Right?”

“Yeah,” she nodded and looked at Ren. “Right?”

“They will not cross the line,” Ren answered moving his hammer to hold in both his hands.

“That’s the spirit!”

“Are both teams ready?” Port called out.

“Ready!” Jaune shouted holding up his sword.

“Ready!” Summer shouted doing the same.

“Then let our first match begin! Ready!” Both teams readied their weapons, Pyrrha a little more nervously then the others.

“We got this,” Jaune said to Pyrrha, “And if you’re not too up to it, then you can just guard the goal.”

“O-ok,” Pyrrha replied with a nod.

“Set! Go!”

“Qrow/Nora, go!” Summer and Jaune shouted simultaneously and pointed forward. The called members charged ahead with their teams a few feet behind them, their eyes locked and met at the ball. Qrow and Nora reared their hammers back, teeth grit, and swung and hit their hammers together and were knocked back from the force of the blows.

Jaune and Summer ducked under their teammates and clashed swords with each other over the ball, a small shockwave nearly knocking them back, and pushed against each other. They grit their teeth, sparks flying off their swords, until Summer grinned and shouted, “Tai, go!”

Jaune looked confused before he saw Taiyang dart behind Summer and put his hammer on his back. He charged at Ren and dodged into a roll to the right when Ren swung and used the blast from the hammer to launch forward into a slide. He slid under the locked swords and grabbed the ball from its spot, the ball crackling a little in his grip and turning his red colored clothes orange as he stood up and ran to JNPR’s side.

“Pyrrha, stop him!” Jaune called looking back and got his sword knocked off center. He looked back in time to see Summer smiling widely as she swung her sword and landed a hit at Jaune’s midsection, sending him flying back to his team’s goal. Losing his blue coloring he nearly hit Nora in the recovery zone while Pyrrha was standing guard at the goal. Right then, with Taiyang bearing down on her and a sword in her hand, Pyrrha took a breath and held her sword up and charged.

Taiyang skid to a stop and dodged backwards as Pyrrha swung at him, and again to his left when Pyrrha stabbed. Over and over they took turns throwing and dodging attacks, Taiyang doing his best to keep the ball away from the sword, until Nora shouted “Ready!” and charged forward. Pyrrha jumped and backflipped over Nora, putting her hand on the other girl’s shoulder to push her a little more away, and watched as Nora reared her hammer back for an underhand swing.

“Oh crap,” was all Taiyang could say before impact and was sent flying across the arena to sympathetic ‘oohs’ from the audience. The Grifball landed in front of Nora and she stepped back to let Ren grab it, his clothes turning orange as he sheathed his hammer and ran forward with Nora and Jaune.

“You’re doing a great job guarding the goal Pyrrha, keep it up!” Jaune called back as he charged forward and watched Ren slide under a swing from Summer. Nora swung and knocked Summer back and let Jaune go forward. Qrow took a swing at Ren, who jumped and used the shockwave to propel himself into the air and leaving Qrow to block a sword strike from Jaune. Ren was focused on the goal, Raven standing guard glaring up at him, and was so _close_ to the goal.

He was only a couple of feet away when Raven slashed at him, quick as a flash, and hit him in the legs. Ren spun laterally, dropping the ball at Raven’s feet, and she spun around to kick Ren in the stomach and away from the goal into Nora. Raven watched the two pick themselves up and Ren retreat as she casually picked up the ball and held it out to her side for Summer to grab. “Go get ‘em,” she said advancing on Nora and Jaune with Qrow while Summer and Taiyang darted to the left.

“Now _this_ is a stunning game of Grifball, wouldn’t you agree Barty?” Port asked as Jaune broke away from Qrow and moved to intercept Summer.

“Indeed, you hardly see this kind of maneuvering outside of Major League matches,” Oobleck agreed, “and a definite good move to leave their best fighters guarding the goal.”

“Pyrrha is doing ok for herself, especially for a total Grifball newbie,” Velvet commented taking her eyes off of Jaune getting knocked away by Taiyang to watch Pyrrha readying herself.

“Yeah, but she’s just doing what she always does. Fighting isn’t the same as playing Grifball,” Coco replied when Pyrrha and Ren moved toward Summer and Taiyang. “We’ll see how she does when she _actually_ has to play.”

Ren swung and knocked Taiyang away while Summer charged and jumped at him, rolling onto his back and jumping over Pyrrha. She landed past Pyrrha in a roll and charged at Jaune, who just got eligible to play again and charged at Summer sword ready. He was just about ready to swing when Summer smirked, skid to a stop, and threw the ball back across the court.

“Qrow!” Summer called as soon as the ball left her hand and she got knocked away by Jaune. Qrow looked up and knocked Nora way in time to catch the ball and pulled back enough to be close to his team as they recovered. Soon both Red and Blue teams were recovered and back at it, save for the designated goalies.

“Ren, go!” Jaune shouted and Ren charged first, meeting Taiyang and getting knocked away by his hammer. Nora returned the favor and afterwards found herself locked with Summer while Qrow slipped past her. Qrow saw Jaune running toward him and jumped to try and get over him, except Jaune dashed back when he did so and readied a swing. Qrow could only sigh in acceptance as he landed and took the swing to his chest and dropped the ball.

Jaune sheathed his sword and picked up the ball just in time for Nora to get knocked away. He looked away from Nora and at Summer and Raven walking towards him, Jaune’s eyes narrowing in fear at the latter.

_‘Oh crap this is bad!’_ Jaune thought looking around the arena. Taiyang and Qrow were already in their recovery area and Nora and Ren were still on their way, leaving Pyrrha the only ready one on his team after him. _‘As good as Pyrrha is in a fight, she’s still outnumbered in this game. They just need to get past her to score.’_ With his options decreasing fast he made a choice that he hoped would pay off.

“Pyrrha, catch!” he shouted and threw the ball at Pyrrha. Surprised, Pyrrha dropped her sword and caught the ball with both hands, her clothing turning orange the moment she grabbed it. She looked at the ball before a screaming Jaune flew overhead and smacked into the back wall.

“Pyrrha run!” Nora shouted pointing ahead of her.

“Murder Nikos’ face!” Summer shouted pointing at Pyrrha and Raven readied her sword while a recovered Qrow and Taiyang left their zone. Faced with such odds, Pyrrha Nikos, famed gladiator and proud member of Team JNPR, knew what she had to do.

And that was narrow her eyes, scream in fear, and charge _toward_ Summer and Raven holding the ball over her head.

“Wow, look at her go!” Port said pointing at Pyrrha, “Now that’s a warrior!”

“So amazing!” a student said with a dreamy sigh.

“She’s scared out of her mind,” Coco said chuckling, “I’ve been waiting for this.”

“Coco…” Yatsuhashi chastised.

The fearful charge of Pyrrha met its first obstacle with Summer and Raven. Pyrrha, still screaming her head off, rolled under Summer’s sword and kicked her in the stomach. With Summer floored Pyrrha stood up and dodged a vertical swipe from Raven and blocked a follow-up strike with the ball. Raven cringed at the impact and tried to take a step back, which was when Pyrrha took a step forward and slammed the ball into Raven’s head, knocking her down.

The crowd ‘oohed’ and Port quirked an eyebrow and looked at Oobleck. “Are we going by Vacuo rules? Otherwise she can’t do that.”

“Too late to say anything now. Let’s just say it’s Vacuo rules for this game and clarify for later ones,” Oobleck replied and both professors nodded and returned to the game.

With the immediate threat done Pyrrha continued running and screaming toward Taiyang. He swung his hammer down at Pyrrha as she dodged back, the shockwave sending her back more than she would have thought. Pyrrha, acting mostly on fear and muscle memory, reacted by throwing the ball at Taiyang. Surprised, he blocked the ball with one of his arms and watched it bounce away back into Pyrrha’s hands as she jumped and raised the ball over her head.

“Oh son of a-!” Taiyang started to say when Pyrrha brought the ball down on his head, knocking him down, and rolled over his body and toward Qrow. Qrow tightened his grip on his hammer and brought it down, just barely missing Pyrrha as she jumped over him and rode the shockwave up. Pyrrha flew up, still screaming and with small specks of tears coming out of her eyes, as she front flipped and planted her feet on the arena wall. She saw Qrow turning to look at her and readying for another swing as she pushed off the wall toward the ground, the ball still over her head toward the ground. The ball hit the ground, slipped out of Pyrrha’s hands, and she rolled onto her front and covered her head waiting for the blow from Qrow to come.

It never did.

“Damn,” Qrow said and Pyrrha looked out to see him set his hammer down and lean against it. He gave Pyrrha a thumbs up and added, “that was pretty slick.”

“Huh?” Pyrrha wondered pushing herself up to her knees.

“Way to go Pyrrha!” Nora shouted and leapt into the air high enough for most of the arena to see, “That was amazing!”

“What?”

“First point: Blue team!” Port shouted over the applause and cheers from the crowd of students. Pyrrha blinked at Port’s statement and looked behind her to see the Grifball blinking gently in the goal.

“I… I scored a point,” Pyrrha stated and her eyes widened and she smiled in delight. “I scored a point!”

“Yep, good job,” Qrow said and started to back away from Pyrrha as she jumped to her feet.

“That was so much fun! I barely remember it but I loved it!”

“Uh, Pyrrha,” Summer said.

“How have I _never_ heard of this game if this is the kind of rush it brings!”

“Pyrrha?” Jaune said.

“And we’re playing this for the whole week? This is amazing!”

“Hey genius,” Raven shouted getting Pyrrha’s attention, “the ball explodes after every point!”

“…It what?” Pyrrha looked behind her in time to see the ball blinking faster and more audibly. “Oh no,” was all she could say to that before starting to run. The ball exploded, more fire than force, an instant after and sent Pyrrha flying through the air screaming, the orange of her clothes blinking away back to her normal colors, and landed on her face in the middle of the arena and bounced once to flip onto her back to a collective ‘ooh’ from the crowd.

“Pyrrha!” Summer shouted as she and Jaune rushed to Pyrrha’s side. “Are you ok!?”

“I’m alright Mother, I don’t want any more apple pie,” Pyrrha replied in a daze.

“Is that good?” Jaune asked looking at Summer.

“I think I saw her Aura flare up and the armor should have taken most of the blast.”

“Look out, back away!” Oobleck said rushing over and pushing Summer and Jaune away from Pyrrha. “Give her some space. Miss Nikos, are you ok?” Pyrrha lay there groaning for another second before shaking her head slightly and focusing on Oobleck.

“Hello everyone, I’m ok,” she said with a small wave.

“That’s for me to decide,” Oobleck said taking out his scroll and turning on the light, “follow the light with your eyes please.” Pyrrha followed the light as Oobleck moved it around a little and put it away when he was satisfied held up some fingers. “How many fingers?”

“Three,” Pyrrha answered.

“Her Aura’s still green if that helps,” Jaune said holding up his scroll. Oobleck nodded and looked at Pyrrha as she pushed herself up into a seating position.

“Well Miss Nikos, how do _you_ feel?”

“I’m fine. I’ve taken harder hits before,” Pyrrha answered and giggled to herself as she crossed her legs. “Truthfully, that was actually kind of fun!”

“If you can call getting blown up fun,” Oobleck said pushing up his glasses, “are you sure you can continue playing?”

“I’m sure.”

“Well then, the game continues! Both teams get to your sides while we reset for the next round! And Miss Nikos, make double sure you will be alright.” Pyrrha nodded and looked at Jaune as he held a hand out to her, which she grabbed and let herself be pulled up to her feet.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” Jaune asked.

“I’m fine, really! I know my own limits jaune,” Pyrrha said waving her hands in the air. Jaune nodded just as Summer clapped Pyrrha’s back, causing the girl to jump in surprise.

“For real Pyrrha, that was a good move you did,” Summer said winking at Pyrrha, “keep it up and your team might even win. And make sure to be ready when you score a point, don’t scare us like that.” Pyrrha and Jaune blinked at that and the former nodded as they watched Summer walk away to her side of the court before looking at each other.

“Well that’s encouraging,” Jaune said and jerked a thumb back to the Blue side of the court with a smile, “want to play some more?”

_“Oh do I!”_

* * *

And so the game continued, and as everyone on both teams got into their respective roles the rounds only became more intense with lots of back and forth possessions and scores. Pyrrha in particular was really starting to get into it once she got used to how different the game was from how she was used to. Guarding the goal, rushing and passing the ball, learning what to do based on what weapons were going against each other, it was a whole other level of strategic thinking that Pyrrha was glad to be experiencing.

Still, the game could only have really ended one way.

“And with a score of 5 to 4, the winner is Red team!” Port announced once the final explosion of the game had died down. The crowd of students applauded as both STRQ and JNPR took a moment to catch their breaths, especially Raven who was still smoking after scoring the final point.

“Argh, lost by one lousy point,” Nora complained sitting down and lying flat on her back.

“Honestly, that was a lot better than I thought we would do,” Jaune said taking a deep breath. He saw a pair of boots enter his vision and he looked up at Summer, carrying her cloak in her arms. Jaune stood up straight and held his hand out to her. “That was a good game Summer. I had a lot of fun.” Summer smiled and clapped her hand against his, giving it a firm shake.

“It was. You guys almost had us in the last round too, so be proud of that.” Summer let go of Jaune’s hand and looked back at her team giving their weapons to Oobleck. “I’ll tell you what Jaune, I’ll get your team some drinks when we go back up. It’s the least I can do after all of that.”

“Sure thing. You ok with that Pyrrha?” Jaune asked looking at Pyrrha, who gave a thumbs up from where she was sitting.

“I’ll take something with strawberries,” Nora added holding a finger into the air.

After they all turned in the equipment and gotten their drinks, they went back into the stands and waited for the next game to start. “Hey, sorry if we scared you during the game Pyrrha,” Summer said once they were all settled into their seats, “We kind of take this stuff really seriously when we get into it.”

“It’s ok, I’m kind of the same way myself,” Pyrrha replied looking down at her half finished drink, “But it was still fun, and good motivation to act. I still find it weird that I’ve never heard of such a popular sport before.”

“You were kind of busy with your own thing for the last few years, so it’s not that surprising,” Taiyang said leaning back to get a look at Pyrrha.

“Still, _everyone else_ here knows this game and are huge fans and I’ve never heard of it before. That’s… weird.”

“I think it’s hilariously poetic,” Raven said with a chuckle, “The Perfect Girl isn’t so perfect after all.”

“I’m not perfect.”

“I never said you were.” Somehow the smirk that Raven shot Pyrrha’s way made her feel a little better and she shook her head slightly.

“The next game is about to begin!” Port’s voice called out, “Are both teams ready?”

“Ready!” Coco called, her and her team all grins.

“Y-yeah, ready,” Cardin called out, his team looking particularly afraid for good reason.

“Then get ready! Set! Go!”

“This is going to be a slaughter,” Qrow said leaning forward to watch, “I wish I had some popcorn.”

“Who made this game?” Pyrrha asked looking away from the game to Summer. “I mean, who came up with the idea?”

“Atlas,” Raven answered.

“…Really?”

“Really.”

“The origins of Grifball are actually really interesting,” Summer said setting her drink down, “it’s apparently a highly guarded secret for the Kingdom of Atlas. There are rumors though.”

“…The creation of a sport is a well-guarded secret? What?”

“Well if the most popular rumor about its creation is true, it makes sense they want to hide it,” Ren said.

“And that would be?”

“The way I heard it, it starts with a team of Atlas soldiers in some box canyon in the middle of nowhere in Solitas.”

“The sergeant of the group had it out for one private in his squad real bad,” Summer continued, “to the point where he tried these elaborate assassination plans to murder the private every other week.” Pyrrha’s horrified look at Summer caused her to laugh and add, “I know right? Anyway, one of these plans happened to go down in front of some Atlas Generals who happened to visit the canyon. To save face and keep out of the firing squad’s sights, he spun a bullshit tale about working with his squad to create a new game.”

“Oh I know this story!” Jaune said excitedly, “the Generals bought it completely and wanted to see a mock game of it. The sergeant put together a haphazard game that mostly consisted of beating on that one private and the Generals loved it and bought the rights to the game right then and there.”

Nora then chimed in with, “a few trials runs, some rule changes, and one massive fire later the first iteration of Grifball was ready and debuted at a Vytal Festival. And it was a _smash hit!_ Everyone loved it!”

“Soon everyone had their own version of Grifball and a league was created to regulate all the different rule sets and organize matches,” Ren said with a shrug, “And that was all that was needed to push it into being the most popular sport on Remnant.”

“All of this… from a botched assassination attempt,” Pyrrha clarified, to which everyone nodded in response. “And this is the most popular theory?”

“And the least strange to be honest. Whatever the story actually is, there’s no denying the game is huge,” Summer said looking down at the one sided slaughter of a game going on. “You’d be hard pressed to find someone on the planet who doesn’t like it even a little.”

* * *

Weiss was waiting patiently outside of Salem’s throne room for whatever news Ruby would bring from inside. She checked her claws like one would their nails and soon got her answer when an explosion sounded from inside the throne room and Ruby walked out with a few strands of her hair on fire, calmly closing the door behind her.

“I take it Queen said no?” Weiss asked pushing off of the wall she was leaning against.

“Pretty definitively,” Ruby replied and snuffed out the fire in her hair. “I don’t understand why though, she isn’t using the Seer right now. We just need it for an hour!”

“Well maybe Queen does need it for something. Maybe we shouldn’t bring it up to her again.” Ruby laughed at the suggestion and put a hand on Weiss’ shoulder.

“Oh Weiss, that lack of drive is why you’re not the leader,” she said getting a glare from Weiss, “but don’t worry, because I _am_ prepared for the role. I have to go give the order, so excuse me.”

Weiss blinked and watched Ruby skip away, her hands clasped behind her back. “What order?” she called out.

In the throne room everyone present started to come out from under the table after Salem’s ‘explosive’ encounter with her head General.

“I wish they would stop wasting my time with requests like that,” Salem muttered shaking her head at the door.

“I still find it interesting that they want to use Seers for such a purpose,” Watts said with a small smile, “Your Generals are always so fascinating Your Grace.”

“Why don’t they just use a TV?” Tyrian asked out loud.

“With what signal here?”

“…Oh yes, I always forget about that part.”

“Enough.” Salem held up a hand stilling any more conversation between the two and looked at Tyrian. “Tyrian, how goes your search for the Spring Maiden?”

Tyrian cringed a little and wrung his hands before answering, “Not very good Your Grace. The Maiden is still very much hidden after her disappearance a decade ago. I have a few leads to look into, but nothing definitive. I’m sorry Your Grace.”

“I see,” Salem balled her hands together and nodded slightly, “continue your search.”

“Of course Your Grace!” Tyrian did his best to keep his mad laughs down a little.

“However, Vale is our top priority for now. Cinder is on her way to Vale as we speak and General Blake has informed me that her White Fang forces are ready to move at a moment’s notice.” There was a soft tinking of glass behind Salem, though she paid it no mind. “And Watts, is your contribution ready?”

“Almost. A few more days of hard work and it will be ready,” Watts answered.

“Make sure that it’s done.” Watts nodded and Salem let herself smile a little. “As long as everyone does their tasks with the upmost diligence, I don’t see any more unexpected problems coming up.” Salem looked between Tyrian and Watts, who were now looking behind her in confusion, and closed her eyes with a sigh. “They’re on the window aren’t they?”

She got her answer when Yang crashed into the room through the window with one of Blake’s tentacles wrapped around her waist. The glass fell harmlessly to the ground, though Tyrian and Watts flinched, and Yang looked around for a moment before her eyes locked on the nearby Seer and grabbed its orb body with her large arm. “I got the Seer, take me back up!” Yang shouted as the Seer struggled in her grip and jumped back out of the window and got pulled back up with a shriek of joy.

When everything had settled back down Watts and Tyrian exchanged looks before looking at Salem, who was shaking ever so slightly and emanating a black mist.

“Your Grace?” Tyrian asked.

“Leave me, now,” she ordered simply. The two men exchanged another look and stood up to walk out of the room. “And get me some aspirin Watts.”

“Of course Your Grace,” Watts answered while holding the door open for Tyrian and followed him out. Once the door was closed and she was sure she was alone Salem pressed her forehead against her balled up hands and growled loudly.

“Curse that poisonous sport.”

* * *

Back at Beacon Team STRQ was settling down from the day of exercise. Summer had just left the bathroom in her pajamas drying her hair off with a towel. “Hot showers are just the best after a day of hard work.”

“Agreed,” Raven said from her bed reading a comic she stole from Summer’s stash.

“You didn’t use all the hot water did you?” Taiyang asked.

“It should still be good,” Summer replied hanging the towel off her shoulders, “You guys mind if I turn the news on?”

“Go ahead,” Taiyang said standing up and moving past Summer to the bathroom as she walked to the bookshelf under the window that the holo-tv and remote were kept.

“Checking the sports scores?” Qrow asked moving next to Summer.

“I don’t think the Grifball season’s started yet,” Summer replied with a shrug, “You never know though.”

“Speaking of, why do you think they changed the whole tactic training thing this week?” Raven said lowering her comic, “I mean, they never did that before right?”

“According to the seniors yeah,” Qrow said looking at his sister with a shrug, “maybe there was a shipment mailed wrong and we’re just benefiting?”

“That’s ridiculous.”

* * *

_“What do you mean there was shipment meant for Atlas?” Glynda asked the day before._

_“We checked it and it was a shipment of Grifball equipment,” Ozpin answered and shook his head, “and after talking with General Ironwood it seems the shipment would have been superfluous anyway. He’s not hurting for that equipment.”_

_“So why not send it back?”_

_“Cost.” Ozpin and Glynda both sighed, silently cursing one of the worst parts of running a school._

_“So what are we supposed to do with all of that equipment? We can’t just store it away, especially with everything that has been going on lately.” Ozpin thought for a moment and tented his fingers in front of him with a small smile._

_“I have an idea that might just solve that and another problem.”_

* * *

“You never know,” Qrow shrugged.

“Well whatever,” Raven said rolling onto her stomach and opening back to her place in the comic, “at least we won’t be hating life for the rest of the week. After that is a few more days of school before semester break, then nothing but good times for us.”

“Son of a bitch,” Summer whispered.

“And what is that supposed to-“ Raven started looking up from her comic and saw what was on the news. She closed the comic and stood up to get a better look and added, “Oh…”

“Hey where’s my shampoo?” Taiyang asked poking his head out of the bathroom and saw the image on the news of a storefront with a smashed up exterior. “Hey, turn that up Sum,” he said walking out to join everyone else around the TV.

_“A Dust store was robbed earlier tonight, the latest in the string of robberies that has been plaguing the City of Vale for the past year and the first since one was foiled by Huntresses. The police are currently investigating connections to local crime networks and we will update you as the situation develops.”_

“Shit, you all forgot about this too huh?” Qrow asked looking at Taiyang and Raven as the reporter continued.

“Well we have had a lot going on,” Taiyang answered rubbing the back of his neck and gestured at the TV, “And like she said, this just started back up again.”

“Sum has the look,” Raven said leaning forward to look at Summer’s face, staring harshly at the TV and gripping the remote a little tighter than necessary. Raven looked back at the boys, who nodded at her, and she straightened and crossed her arms. “Alright, let’s nix that discussion before it starts.” Summer blinked and looked at Raven as she continued, “Who wants to spend our free time taking down another criminal organization because our leader has a hero complex? All in favor?”

“Aye!” Taiyang answered punching a palm, “the last one was a lot of fun all things considered.”

“Maybe next time we can actually negotiate it into extra credit,” Qrow said with a smirk.

“Guess it’s unanimous,” Raven said smirking as well. Summer smiled and turned to everyone else.

“Thanks guys,” she said nodding.

“You would have done it anyway, with or without us,” Taiyang said walking up to Summer and wrapping an arm around her shoulder, “at least this way you won’t get hurt too bad.”

“Thanks,” Summer rolled her eyes and pushed Taiyang off of her. She looked back at the TV and said, “This kind of thing takes a while to really get started so… when the semester break starts we’ll get on this.”

“Lots of relaxation before a ton of work,” Raven said crossing her arms, “sounds like a plan.”

“Glad you agree,” Summer replied and turned off the TV.


	18. A date with Ice Cream

“I don’t know, do you think that would work?” Jaune asked scratching his head. The last of the ‘team tactics training’ matches ended an hour ago and Nora, for reasons known only to her, followed him while Pyrrha and Ren went to take care of the laundry duty they had pulled straws on.

“Jaune, you’re just asking Summer to see a movie with you,” Nora said rolling her eyes, “that’s just something friends do right? Why worry about it?”

“Yeah but… I don’t know,” Jaune sighed and stopped in his tracks, “I don’t want to just ‘be friends’ with her, you know?”

Nora blinked once, then twice, and then realized what he meant. “Ooooh, I see what you mean. In that case, don’t do that. Your first date being a movie is a terrible idea that will always end in disaster.”

“Oh… really?”

“BUT! That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try,” Nora continued and wrapped an arm around Jaune’s neck and pulled him down to her level, “try to use it to test the waters, you know? Maybe during the move, reach out and hold her hand and see how she reacts. She might like it!”

“Really?”

“Or she’ll take it as a personal offense and deck you in the nose in front of all the theater goers to your eternal embarrassment,” Nora continued slipping her arm off of Jaune and starting to look horrified, “or even worse, she’ll just walk out of the theater leaving you alone to wallow in your misery.”

“Nora?” Jaune asked as his teammate started to sound more manic.

“And then when you try to talk to them the day after they ignore you and all the goodwill you build up with them over the years and then after a few weeks says they don’t want to be friends or be around you anymore even though we’ve had nothing but each other to rely on since we were kids!”

“Nora.”

“And then with nowhere else to go, you try to pick up the shattered pieces of your life and keep going for your own sake, but the empty void in your heart just threatens to swallow you up entirely so you adopt animals to hopefully fill the void with unconditional love, but it doesn’t work and the years just keep coming and you keep getting more and more!” Nora grabbed Jaune’s hoodie and pulled him down to her eye level to stare into his eyes with crazed, shrunken eyes. “I DON’T WANT TO BE A CRAZY CAT LADY JAUNE! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-” Nora’s wails were suddenly ceased when Jaune shoved a snack cake into her mouth and she calmed down immediately.

“I get the point Nora,” he said gently pushing Nora away so she could enjoy the snack at her own pace. “Still you are right, there’s no harm in just asking and taking it slow. If she says yes, great, and if not, I got other ideas. It’s like Saphron says, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

“Your sisters sound way smarter than you,” Nora said with a mouthful of cake, which got a flat look from Jaune. She swallowed and waved a hand in the air as she added, “I’m kidding! You know I’m kidding.”

“…Yeah, I do,” Jaune answered with a smile as Nora ate the rest of the cake, “So do you know where Summer is?”

“No, but we always seem to run into her or the others when we need to. Let’s just walk and find her in five minutes like we always do.”

It took half an hour of walking before they found her sitting against a tree, due only to the fact that her white cloak stood out more than anything in the courtyard. Jaune and Nora walked over to her on the side of the tree she wasn’t sitting on to talk to her, but stopped when they over heard her talking.

“Who’s a good kitty? Who’s a good kitty? Is it you?” she said in a cooing voice. That in itself wouldn’t be so odd, Jaune had seen plenty of stray cats wandering around Beacon, until she was answered by a soft caw. “That’s right, it is you! Such a good kitty.” Nora and Jaune looked at each other in bafflement before finally stepping around the tree to see what Summer was doing.

They were not ready to see Summer sitting cross legged and happily petting a raven lying on her leg on its stomach, wings spread and beak open, from its head going down its back while a crow stood next to her. The crow tilted its head when it saw the first years, who were busy staring at the raven as it enjoyed getting pet. This lasted for a few moments until the raven moved its head enough to see them, which was when it freaked out flapping its wings and cawing loudly. When Summer flinched away from it, the raven took off in a hurry to the mocking, laughing caws of the crow.

“What’s wrong?” Summer called after the raven as it circled in the air and landed on one of the tree’s branches, “did I hit a wrong place?”

“Is this a bad time?” Nora asked, causing Summer to jump in surprise and slowly turn to look at her and Jaune with wide eyes.

“Heeeeeey guys,” she said slowly and with a forced smile and turned fully to them, “when did you get here?”

“Just now,” Jaune answered and pointed up at the raven that now seemed to be glaring down at him, “when you were calling that a ‘good kitty’.”

“…Oh really?” Summer sighed and rubbed the back of her head, “I guess that’s alright then.” The crow cawed and Summer looked down at it. Their eyes locked for a moment before she sighed and crouched next to it holding out her arm, which the crow flapped onto.

“So… what is this about?” Nora said gesturing at the crow, “kind of a weird thing to suddenly walk in on.”

“Is it so weird to give affection to your pets?” Summer asked as the crow walked along her arm up to her shoulder. The raven cawed from its perch, to which Summer looked up at it annoyed and pointed at it, “You shut up, you have no right to complain!”

“Pets? You can have pets here?” Jaune asked.

“With special permission yes,” Summer clarified and flinched a little when the raven cawed again and flew down to nest on her head. “I know some of the other teams have cats and at least one has a dog, but we have birds. Well, technically Qrow and Raven own them, but who’s splitting hairs?”

“So raven has a Raven and Crow owns the Qrow?” Nora asked and Summer nodded, “I feel like I said that wrong.”

“But why birds?” Jaune asked.

“Well, mostly for practicality. When you’re out of the kingdom with no signal, carrier birds are a good second bet to get messages around fast.” Summer held her arm up to the raven on her head, that didn’t move until Summer shook her arm a little more and it almost spitefully hopped on. She lowered her arm and started petting the bird again, who seemed to struggle against opening its beak again before giving up, and Summer continued, “And these two cuties are great for doing that. Ravens and crows are some of the smartest birds in the world. Crows can remember faces and hold grudges against people who wronged them.”

“That would explain a lot about Qrow,” Nora muttered and flinched back when the crow cawed at her.

“And ravens can even mimic human speech. Raven’s been working extra hard teaching this one that stuff; it’s good for parties.”

“Wait, really?” Nora asked and looked at the raven with stars in her eyes. “Can we see?” The raven snapped its beak shut and looked between Nora and Summer, who was smiling wryly down at it.

“Sure thing Nora. Go on girl, _show your stuff._ ” Summer said grinning widely. The raven looked at the crow on Summer’s shoulder for support, found none, and settled into a resigned position and looked at Nora and Jaune.

Quoth the raven, “Nevermore.”

“Wow! That’s so cool!” Nora said and gave the raven the smallest of pets with a finger.

“I thought that was just a thing that happened in stories,” Jaune commented scratching his cheek.

“Kinda sorta. If it’s a raven in stories, that’s based in truth. This girl’s picky and doesn’t like doing it that often though. She gets agitated easily and… well, starts saying other things.”

“It can say other things? Cool! Come on little birdie, say something else,” Nora said staring at the raven, who stared back at her with piercing red eyes.

Quoth the raven, “I’mma fuck you up.”

“…what?”

“I’mma fuck you up!” the raven repeated and hopped further down Summer’s arm toward Nora.

“Ah, I’m sorry don’t hurt me!” Nora screamed and darted behind Jaune. Summer chuckled a little and brought arm back away from Nora and Jaune.

“That means she’s getting agitated and wants to leave. And you may,” Summer said holding her arm up so the raven could take off and fly away from the group. Summer then held her arm up to the crow, who hopped on it instantly, and brought it down to start gently petting it. “I really do like these birds, attitude aside. They’ve saved my life more than once.”

“Really? Well that’s good,” Jaune said and flinched a little when Nora poked his side and gestured at Summer with her head. “Oh right! Sorry for the sudden change in subject, but I wanted to ask you something Summer.”

“I don’t mind,” Summer said. The crow cawed at Summer and she stared down it shaking her head. “Fine, you’ll get your turn,” she said as she sat down and crossed her legs, holding the crow down to her legs and adding, “Lie down.” The crow hopped down and did just that, lying down on its stomach and spreading its wings so Summer could start petting it.

“Wow, they’re well trained,” Jaune commented as the crow started cawing happily.

“Your question?”

“Oh, right.” Jaune glanced over at Nora as she got out from behind him. She nodded and he continued, “I was wondering if you were busy tomorrow. There was a movie that I wanted to see and I was hoping you would come with.”

“Why don’t you go with your team?”

“Well… uh…” Jaune stammered wide eyed.

“Ren doesn’t like the kind of movie Jaune wants to see,” Nora interrupted, “And I had plans with Pyrrha, so we can’t go. So he wanted to go with you.” Nora finished by clasping her hands together and batting her eyelashes at him, which he responded to by sighing and planting his hand on her face.

“Yeah, pretty much that,” Jaune continued as Nora struggled against his hand.

“That’s sweet of you to ask Jaune, but I actually am busy tomorrow. Team stuff, sorry,” Summer answered with a shrug.

“Oh… well, no big deal. Some other time then?”

“I’ll check my schedule and get back to you.” The crow cawed angrily and looked up at Summer. “Fine you baby! I’m sorry guys, I have get back to this. You think my teammates have an attitude.”

“Right, we’ll see you around Summer,” Jaune said and waved at Summer as he and Nora started walking away.

“Bye!” Nora said waving at Summer, who returned it before returning to petting the crow and calling it a ‘good kitty.’ They walked a ways away before Nora turned to Jaune and said, “See, that wasn’t so bad. The world didn’t end.”

“Yeah, I’ll just try again when she’s not so busy,” Jaune agreed with a nod, “you’re actually really good at helping keep people calm when you want to Nora.”

“I do and go where I’m needed,” Nora said proudly and polished her knuckles on her chest. “It’s no big deal. Hey, is that Raven?” Nora pointed ahead of her at Raven, who was stomping toward them red faced and with puffed out cheeks.

“You’re right, and she looks angry. Hey Raven, what’s up?” Jaune said waving at Raven. Once she got close enough and started rearing back a hand, he could only narrow his eyes in fear as she slapped him hard enough to floor him. “Ow…”

“Shut up, you deserved that!” Raven shouted at the downed Jaune, “Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go beat the shit out of Summer!” She stepped over Jaune and toward the tree where Summer was sitting.

“What was that about?” Nora asked flabbergasted and looked down at Jaune, “Are you ok?”

“I will be as soon as I can feel my cheek again.”

* * *

“I don’t care, it needs to be taken care of now!” Roman Torchwick said into his scroll as he paced in front of the map of Vale that he pinned to the wall of the warehouse that was his current hideout. “Well in case you didn’t notice, we’re kind of busy robbing every Dust shop in the city and then _hiding it_ from the police. That’s not exactly easy especially when _some mutts_ aren’t pulling their weight!” Roman listened for a moment and rolled his eyes and slammed his hand on the table. “Fine, then I’ll have some of _my_ boys take care of it, and then when they’re done I’ll send them to cut your tails off SO YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO HIDE THEM BETWEEN YOUR LEGS WHEN YOU RUN!”

Roman closed the scroll and slammed it onto the table. With a growl he pulled out a cigar and lit it, taking a long drag as he stared at the map and shook his head. “Mongrels.”

 **“Trouble in paradise Roman?”** Roman perked and looked behind him at one of the White Fang’s Heralds that usually accompanied large groups of them. Roman eyed her as she walked to him, the whiskers on her face coming second to her red and black eyes, which always sent a chill down his spine.

“No, just… slow business,” Roman replied turning to face the herald fully, choosing his words carefully, “Sometimes you have to give the occasional threat to get the ball rolling.”

 **“Oh I’m well aware,”** the herald agreed with a smile, **“Just as long as you remember who follows through on those threats, hm?”**

“Yes, I remember.” Roman had seen how these black eyed heralds had worked; he had seen a silent bookworm type turn into a harsh knee splitter in an instant once she got those eyes. “So since you’re… like this, is there something you need me to know?” he asked taking another drag.

**“Of course, since I’m sure you’ve gotten the new squads. How are they doing by the way?”**

“They got here and started working, so no complaints from either of us,” he answered as the herald moved next to him to inspect the city map thoughtfully, “And I’m assuming they’re here for a big job.”

**“Astute as always Roman. We recently got information about a large shipment of Schnee Dust coming to Vale within the week. A whole freighter.”**

Roman couldn’t help but whistle in appreciation and say, “And let me guess, you want some nefarious ne’er-do-well,” he gestured to himself, “to take it all for… whatever it is we’re doing.”

**“Correct.”**

“And what exactly did we need this for again?”

 **“Now why,”** the herald turned to Roman and took a small step toward him, **“would we tell you that?”**

“I… had to try? So you said it was a coming in a week?”

**“ _Within_ the week. We weren’t able to get the exact date.”**

“I’ve worked with less information. I’ll get right on it after I finish relocating the Dust from the other warehouses.”

 **“No, this takes priority. Get someone else to do the relocation.”** The herald then rubbed her chin, nodded, and added, **“And on a slightly less urgent note, there’s something else I need you to take care of.”**

Roman rolled his eyes but asked, “What would that be?”

**“You know Tukson’s Book Trade?”**

“Yeah I know it. What about it?”

**“The owner is White Fang. However it seems as though he’s been having some… disagreements about how we’ve been operating lately. He may try to leave Vale, which would be problematic.”**

“And you want him capped.”

**“Quietly, if you’ll please. Neither of us want additional police attention.”**

“On that we agree. I’ll take care of it when I have the time.”

 **“Excellent, I’ll leave you to your work then. We’ll meet again soon Roman.”** The herald doubled over and screamed in pain for a few seconds before straightening up, her eyes back to their normal green, and simply giggled to herself as she walked away from Roman.

“Freaks,” Roman commented and shook his head as he turned back to the map. He took a drag and thought, _‘Just dumping all this work on me all of a sudden. Tukson can wait for the moment, but that Dust still needs to be moved. I need to focus on the freighter so…’_ “Neo, are you here?” he called out turning around. A finger tapped him on his shoulder, causing him to jump with a “Gah!” and turn to see Neo, his henchwoman/partner/best damn fighter he had leaning against the table with her parasol opened on her shoulder and smiling at him. “Oh, there you are. I take it you heard all of that?”

Neo nodded and stood up closing her parasol behind her.

“Good, less explaining for me. Can you take care of moving the warehouse stock to here? Take a couple of the mutts if you need to.”

Neo nodded and mimed opening a book and then a stabbing motion while raising her eyebrow.

“Oh you want to take care of Tukson too?” Neo nodded and Roman smiled, “alright, I don’t have a problem with that. Maybe wait a little bit on that just in case the heat gets too much. If he is leaving, maybe we can work that into the-“

Neo held up a hand, mimed writing something down, and gave Roman a thumbs up.

“Oh, got an idea already huh? You can tell me about that later then, the warehouses come first.” Neo nodded and started walking away while spinning her parasol around her wrist. “You’re an angel Neo, saving me from all this bull shit!” Roman shouted, which Neo responded to by giving another thumbs up before her image shattered like glass.

“I love that scamp,” Roman commented to himself and stubbed out his cigar on the table before picking up his scroll again, “well I got a few more calls to make.”

* * *

The first day of semester break had finally come and Summer was waiting for her team at the patio of a café in the city that Coco had recommended at some point. She was listening to music through headphones hidden under her hood, nodding her head in time to the music and enjoying the afternoon, when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder and she looked back at Taiyang. The exchanged waves as Taiyang sat down at the table and Summer turned the music off with her scroll and lowered her headphones around her neck.

“Hey Tai, you took your time,” she said with a small smirk.

“Public transport, what can you do?” Taiyang said with a shrug and pointed at Summer, “and I almost missed you too. I forgot you even had that outfit.”

Summer looked down at her outfit, a white hooded jacket with a stylized red rose on the left side halfway zipped up over a black tank top, a pair of jeans, and her usual combat boots, and looked up at Taiyang in confusion. “Really? You didn’t recognize this?”

“Well you do usually wear the one cloak. Have you always had that?”

“Yeah, I wore it to Junior’s nightclub last year.”

“Oh yeah, I kind of remember that. You know, Raven was right, you do wear a lot of white.”

“Whatever Tai. Speaking of changing clothes, is that a new jacket?”

“This? Yeah, I got it last month during some down time,” Taiyang said standing up and turning around to show off his new bomber jacket, black with a stitched Sea Feilong on the back. That, a white undershirt, a pair of blue jeans, and a black stocking cap completed his outfit. “What do you think, looks good on me right?”

“That depends, how much did it cost?”

“Not that much _of my own money._ ”

“Then it looks good on you.” Taiyang chuckled and sat back down as both of their scrolls beeped. They both opened it and checked the text from Qrow.

_‘We’ll be there shortly. Mind ordering our usual?’_

“You heard them Tai. Be a dear will you?” Taiyang looked flatly at her, which she simply returned with a smirk, before rolling his eyes and standing up.

“Sure thing Sum. Your usual as well?” Summer nodded and looked back at her scroll. “By the way, what is the plan for today? You weren’t exactly specific.”

“I’ll tell you when the twins get here. Don’t worry too much though, we’re not going to start on that until nightfall. Just think of it as a free day until then.”

“Can do,” Taiyang nodded and waved as he walked away from the table into the café. Summer slid her headphones back on and turned her music on to wait out Qrow and Raven’s arrival. Taiyang came back after a few minutes and started browsing something on his scroll and generally left Summer to quietly jam and mouth along to her music.

 _“And as we fall, the spirit carries on, that a hero will come and save us all,”_ it blared as Taiyang leaned over and tapped Summer’s arm. He pointed behind her when she opened her eyes and she looked behind her and waved at Raven and Qrow along with Taiyang. The twins returned it and made their way over to the table as Summer again turned her music off and took off her headphones.

“Drinks coming soon?” Raven asked sitting opposite of Summer. Like Summer and Taiyang she had opted to dress more casually today, though just like her Raven’s idea of ‘casual’ was more in your face. A black T-shirt with ‘One Bad Mother’ written on the front in yellow lettering, a denim vest littered with patches and badges, fingerless gloves, black jeans, and her usual boots. Summer was surprised that Raven never wore the makeup to complete the ‘punk’ look.

“I just put the order in a few minutes ago,” Taiyang answered, “they should be coming soon.”

“Cool,” Raven nodded and looked at Summer, who was groaning quietly into her hands, and raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Goddamn you Qrow,” Summer muttered and moved her hands to glare at Qrow.

“What did I do this time!? I just got here!” Qrow said in outrage and Summer gestured at his outfit. It was, naturally, the exact same clothes that he always wore and when he looked down at his clothes he looked back at Summer in annoyance. “I don’t want to hear it Sum, if I look good in something you’re damn right I’m going to wear it.”

“But it’s the _same thing_ every time!” Summer explained as Qrow took a seat, “Is that the same clothes you wore yesterday or do you have more than one of the same outfit?”

“Again, I don’t want to hear it from you of all people. I know for a fact that you have multiples of that combat dress in your closet.”

“This isn’t about _my_ clothes Qrow, it’s about yours!”

“You too?” Raven asked getting a confused look from Summer.

“Wait, do you…?”

“Have more than one of the same outfit? Yeah of course I do. It cost a lot of money, but it’s worth it; I don’t have to worry about my favorite outfit getting destroyed in a fight and… oh.” Raven shared a look with Summer and Qrow before all three looked at Taiyang, who was sweating bullets. “Do you have multiples Tai?”

“Uh… hey our drinks are here! Let’s come back to this never,” Taiyang said as a server stopped next to their table and started setting drinks and a plate of croissants down on the table.

“We really do have static looks,” Summer lamented with a sigh.

“We still look damn good,” Qrow said nodding his thanks to the server, who returned it and walked away.

“Well of course we do. It’s just… I don’t know,” Summer shrugged and took a sip of her coffee, everyone else doing the same.

“So, what’s on the agenda for today?” Raven asked picking up and taking a bite out of a croissant, “and more importantly, who’s ass are we kicking?”

“Right, the robberies,” Summer said setting her cup down and picking up her scroll, quickly going through it to pull up a picture and handing it to Qrow. “If past experience is to show anything, I think this guy is who we should be looking out for: Roman Torchwick.”

“The guy who robbed ‘From Dust till Dawn’ at the beginning of the semester,” Qrow said handing Summer’s scroll to Raven, “He definitely looks the career criminal type.”

“He looks like an asshole,” Raven added passing the scroll to Taiyang.

“He pretty much is on both counts from what I’ve been able to gather,” Summer said tearing a strip off a croissant and dipping it in her coffee, “He’s been relatively small time for a good while, but recently has been getting bigger to fill the power vacuum left when we took down the mob. I don’t know why he would stoop to robbing Dust shops, but I guess we’ll find out when we nab him.”

“I think I saw this guy at Junior’s club when we were there last year,” Taiyang said tapping Torchwick’s picture, “yeah, he was talking to Junior and left right before we trashed the place.” Taiyang gave Summer her scroll back and picked up his cup and asked, “Think old Xiong would know where he is?”

“Maybe. The goons that Torchwick had at ‘From Dust till Dawn’ _were_ Junior’s gang, but I’m not so sure. He does hire out his gang to make a quick Lien, so that might be it and he might not be involved anymore.” Summer shrugged and finished off her croissant, “I think we should play this as broadly as possible and not narrow everything to what we _think_.”

“What about the woman that was in the airship?” Raven asked, “want to look into her?”

“One step at a time. She is suspicious, but ultimately may not have anything more than that. She may have been just another Dust Weaver he hired for one job.”

“That wields glass weaponry?”

“You never know. If it comes up we’ll look into it, but again one step at a time.” Summer picked up her scroll and pulled up a map of Vale with several marks and set it down in the middle of the table. “Now, from what the news said, it seems our mystery robbers are focusing on Dust shops. What exactly was stolen hasn’t been publicized but we can at least assume Dust is a target for them.”

“Hard to transport and even harder to hide, especially if there’s a lot of it,” Taiyang said and leaned forward to look at the scroll. “Are you thinking the warehouses?”

“Yep.”

“I thought you turned that list to the cops last year,” Raven said tapping her fingers on the table, “you really think they’d reuse them like that?”

“Not all of it, just the ones that would hurt the mob the most. And even if I did turn the whole list over, I don’t think it’d change the outcome; real estate is real estate and I don’t think the bottom rung of society would turn it down once the cops moved on, homeless or criminal organization.”

“It’s still a lot though,” Qrow pointed out, “how do we know what to check?”

“We don’t really,” Summer started and picked up her scroll. She tapped away at the screen as she explained, “but I can make a guess. Taking away the ones I gave to the police and the ones hit in follow up raids the cops did on their own, that only leaves a few left. If they’re after Dust they would probably need a lot of space, so that would mean the bigger ones.” She finished and set the scroll down, the map now having three marks on it, and tapped it saying, “that would leave these three as the most likely hiding spots.”

“I hate the guesswork part of this,” Raven sighed and circled a finger around the rim of her cup, “so what, we’re staking out these places?”

“That might not turn up anything. I was thinking we go a little more… direct this time.”

“Direct?”

“Oh, that’s what you meant when you said we were waiting till night,” Taiyang groaned out.

“Yeah. You still have those masks Raven?” Summer asked.

“The masks? Yeah, I still got them stashed somewhere,” Raven answered.

“Get them, we’re going to need them for what I have planned.”

“Sure thing. Let’s see, the masks, our weapons,” Raven counted off her fingers, “anything else we’ll need?”

“I don’t think so, it should be nice and quick if we do it right,” Qrow said and pointed at the scroll, “so how are we divvying these up?”

“I want you to take the one on 152nd Qrow,” Summer said pointing at the marks in order, “and Raven will take the one on Asher. Tai and I will take the last one and, when we’re all done one way or another, we’ll meet up at the arcade on Vale Boulevard. We’ll discuss our findings, make plans based on them, then head home.”

“And improvise if things go south,” Raven added.

“Naturally.”

“Great. And why do Qrow and I get one to ourselves.”

“You’re our best fighters and can handle yourselves,” Taiyang answered.

“…I can’t argue that,” Raven shrugged and looked at Qrow. “It’s a curse being this awesome brother.”

“Right,” Qrow said rolling his eyes.

“So no objections or changes?” Summer asked and looked at her teammates, none of them shaking their heads. She took her scroll and put it away, “Good. Let’s be in position at our posts at 10 o’clock. We should be able to knock this out in no time. Until then, let’s just enjoy our free day.”

“I’m all for that. Jaune mentioned the movies yesterday, so why don’t we go to one? That’ll kill some time.”

“I’m for that!” Taiyang said with a grin and drained his cup of coffee in one swig. “There’s this movie I wanted to see that just came out. Some kind of horror/comedy/adventure thing. I’m sure you’ll like it Raven.”

“We’ll see, I’m not that picky,” Raven shrugged.

“And that’s why I love you.”

“Then it’s settled,” Summer nodded and took a drink of coffee with a sad sigh. “I owe Coco another fifty Lien. I like the coffee here too.”

“You really shouldn’t have made that bet with her.”

“And miss out on good coffee? No way.”

* * *

“I think taking us all out to a movie was a great idea Jaune,” Pyrrha said as she walked the streets of Vale with her team.

“Yeah, but I do have to share credit with Nora,” Jaune replied looking at Nora and Ren. “I’m still a little surprised you don’t like movies Ren. Are you sure you’re fine coming along?”

“It depends on the movie,” Ren said and balled a fist in front of him, “but pushing the boundaries of our world is the only way to grow as a person. I will face these challenges head on.”

“Uh, what?” Jaune asked and looked at Nora.

“He doesn’t like horror movies,” she answered.

“Unfortunately true,” Ren nodded, “I may not look it, but I jump easily.”

“Well, maybe we won’t see a horror movie. We’ll see when we get there.” JNPR turned a corner to where the theater was and paused for just a moment when they saw Team CFVY standing in front of the theater, Velvet bouncing from one poster to another in excitement. They continued walking when Coco glanced at them and waved.

“Well if it isn’t our favorite underclassmen,” Coco said as JNPR joined them in front of the posters, “Enjoying your day off?”

“Yeah, it’s been alright so far,” Jaune nodded, “You decided to see a movie too?”

“It was Velvet’s turn to choose a day off activity,” Yatsuhashi said nodding at Velvet.

“So yeah we’re going to see a movie _as soon as Velvet chooses one!”_ Coco said glancing at Velvet.

“I’m sorry, they all look good!” Velvet said stopping to look over a poster, “I’m feeling this one with the skeleton on it though.”

“So pick it,” Yatsuhashi said.

“Eh… I don’t know…”

“She’s been like this for the last ten minutes,” Fox said with a sigh.

“That… sounds rough,” Jaune said crossing his arms, “Well, why don’t we all see the same movie? That should make things easier right?”

“But-“ Velvet started.

“Done!” Coco interrupted, “Now hurry up and pick a movie!”

“I wasn’t going to take much longer!” Velvet protested before perking up and leaning to look behind Jaune. “Huh, what are the odds?”

“I’ll say,” a girl said from behind Jaune causing him and his team to jump in surprise and look to see Team STRQ, wearing expressions of astonishment, annoyance, and boredom in Qrow’s case. Summer waved at Jaune, staring intently at his clothes, and added, “It’s nice to see you guys.”

“Y-yeah,” Jaune replied with a wave of his own, “I like your jacket Summer.”

“Thanks.”

“So we all decided to see a movie today?” Nora asked and smiled slyly at Jaune, “that’s quite the coincidence huh?”

“We just can’t ever get away from you guys, can we?” Raven asked pinching the bridge of her nose and sighing, “Well, there’s always tonight.”

“What was that?”

“None of your business.”

“Is something wrong Summer?” Pyrrha asked noticing that Summer had been looking at everyone one by one.

“Why…?” Summer asked clenching a fist, “Why does everyone I know only have one outfit?”

“Oh boy…” Taiyang muttered rubbing his eyes.

“E-excuse me?” Pyrrha asked looking down at her combat clothes.

“And what’s _that_ supposed to mean Summer?” Coco asked very much offended and lowered her sunglasses to glare at Summer.

“You _especially Coco!_ ” Summer shouted pointing at Coco’s clothes, “Do you actually have clothing besides what you’re wearing now? Do any of you?”

“Too personal, no comment,” Velvet said rubbing her neck.

“Same,” Fox replied.

“I like breathable clothing,” Yatsuhashi answered tugging on his shirt.

“Of course I do.” Coco crossed her arms.

“Name one!” Summer said.

“I don’t have to tell you anything!” The fight was cut short when Taiyang wrapped an arm around Summer’s shoulder and pulled her closer.

“Just ignore her, she’s in a bad mood right now,” Taiyang said and started to drag Summer to the ticket booth, “Come on Sum, let’s go choose a movie.”

“But-!” Summer started to say.

“No buts!” Summer tried to struggle against Taiyang as she was dragged past the other teams, especially to CFVY’s amusement.

“I’ve decided on the skeleton movie,” Velvet said with a nod and started walking to the ticket booth.

“That sounds good. I’ll have to skip on popcorn this time,” Coco said following Velvet with Yatsuhashi in tow.

“We wear other clothes,” Jaune said looking at Raven, “So that’s not a problem right?”

“I’ve never seen you in anything but that, our school uniform, and those dumbass pajamas of yours,” Raven said shaking her head and walking past them, “So yeah, you have a problem.”

“Having only one outfit isn’t that bad,” Qrow said following his sister, which didn’t make Jaune feel much better.

“Maybe we should go clothes shopping sometime?” Pyrrha asked, “I do feel kind of overdressed now that it’s pointed out.”

“Why, I think you guys all look great,” Fox said with a hint of amusement.

“See, if Fox says not to worry then we shouldn’t!” Nora said happily, “So let’s… wait a minute.” Fox chuckled and walked after the rest of the group, leaving JNPR to themselves. “He always gets me with those, every time.”

“Maybe we should discuss this some other time and just enjoy the movie,” Ren suggested and Jaune, Pyrrha, and Nora nodded in agreement.

* * *

The movie they saw, a story of skeleton knight’s journey of redemption and heroism, was enjoyed by surprisingly everyone in the assembled group of students. Summer and Velvet seemed to enjoy it the most if praises such as “This skeleton really speaks to me,” and enraptured munching of popcorn the whole time would say anything. Coco certainly had more fun watching them than the movie.

When it ended the teams went their separate ways, Jaune thanking Summer for a good time to her confusion, and Raven soon left her team to prepare for later that night. The remaining members of STRQ took their time walking to a nearby park to wait for Raven to get back. With the boys lying on the grass enjoying the sun and Summer sitting nearby, she sighed as she toyed with some locks of her hair.

“I’m thinking of changing my hair again. What do you guys think?” she asked them.

“I thought you liked the style Raven came up for you,” Taiyang asked moving is head so he could look at Summer, “You’ve worn it that way for months.”

“I do like it. I was talking about the color, I’m starting to think it’s a little plain.”

“Wait a couple of years, I’m sure it’ll turn darker,” Qrow said not even bothering to open his eyes.

“Not what I meant Qrow. I was thinking of dying silver streaks into it, make it ‘pop’ a little. What do you think?”

“You and silver,” Qrow muttered and waved a hand dismissively in the air saying louder, “It’s your hair, do what you want with it.”

“Well I think it would look good on you,” Taiyang said giving Summer a thumbs up.

“Thanks guys,” Summer said rolling her eyes slightly and smiling, “I guess I’ll just try a test streak and go from there.” A portal suddenly opened next to Taiyang, startling the blonde right into a sitting position, and Raven walked out with an assortment of weapons and backpacks.

“S’up?” she asked throwing a backpack at Taiyang, who caught it against his chest, “That’s for you and Summer.”

“Thanks Rae,” Taiyang said as he stood up along with Qrow. He checked inside it while Qrow moved to take a backpack and Harbinger from Raven. “Yup, both of them are in there Summer.”

“Great. Hey Raven, quick question: silver streaks in my hair, yay or nay?” Summer asked pointing at her hair.

“I don’t give a crap what you do with your hair,” Raven replied resting a hand on her sword’s handle.

“That settles it, I’ll add a streak later when we’re not busy with this crap. Did you get my stuff?”

“Please,” Raven rolled her eyes and took out a sheathed Soleil, flipping the dagger in the air and catching it to hold out to Summer handle first. “Ammo’s in Tai’s pack. You sure you don’t want your sword as well?”

“We’re not doing this for very long,” Summer answered taking the dagger and started attaching it to her belt, “and we shouldn’t be getting into big fights. Soleil should be fine.” She got the dagger in place and pat it to make sure it was settled and nodded in satisfaction.

“Took your time getting here huh?” Qrow asked slipping the backpack on, his weapon already in its usual place.

“Everyone’s a critic,” Raven said shaking her head, “I took the airship back since I can’t exactly use _that_ in the middle of the city.”

“Well-“

“Enough!” Summer said quieting the argument that would have broken out. With a shake of her head she dug through her jacket pocket and took out a couple ear pieces and gave one to each of her teammates. “We still have a few hours before we need to be in position, so let’s use that time wisely. Oh, and when the masks go on we should use code names again.”

“Fine with me,” Qrow said as they put their earpieces in, “so what are we going with this time?” Summer rubbed her chin in thought for a moment before nodding.

“I think the card theme we used for most of last year worked well, so let’s do that again. Qrow will be ‘Jack’, Tai will be ‘King’, and Raven will be ‘Ace’.”

“Ha, I’m the best card,” Raven said grinning at her brother.

“Debatable,” Qrow answered shaking his head, “And what about you Sum?”

“I’ll be ‘Joker’, naturally,” Summer answered.

“Why?” Taiyang asked, “You used ‘Queen’ didn’t you?”

“Certain individuals have ruined that name for me, the bitch. Besides I think ‘Joker’ is a better fit; wild card, can be what it needs to be, which naturally makes it the best card in the deck.” Summer couldn’t help but shoot Raven a grin at that.

“Again, debatable,” Qrow said.

“Whatever Qrow, I chose my name and that’s final.” Summer checked her watch and nodded. “Alright everyone, we know our roles so let’s get to it! It should be not problem for us right?”

“Right.”

“And make sure to keep in touch!”

“Got it,” Raven replied. The twins waved and went off on their own leaving Taiyang and Summer in the park.

“We’re not exactly the most inconspicuous group at the moment are we?” Taiyang sighed as he slung the backpack on.

“No, but maybe that will work in our favor and we won’t get ambushed by moronic thugs every other hour like last year,” Summer said as she and Taiyang started walking.

“You really think so?”

“I hope so. Now send me more funny pictures.”

* * *

Summer was wrong, as Qrow found out later that night. After spending some time wandering around, window shopping, and trying his luck at capsule machines (which was predictably bad) he checked his watch and saw it was now 9:30 and he figured he should really get a move on. Fifteen minutes of walking later Qrow was close to his designated warehouse. He went around one last corner and Qrow sighed when he saw a group of four men walking along toward him. He continued walking, hoping they wouldn’t try anything.

His luck said ‘no’.

“Well look what we got here!” one of them said blocking Qrow’s path while his buddies surrounded him. Qrow sighed and shook his head and took his right hand out of his pocket as the man continued, “You’re a little out of your depths, aren’t you?”

“Nope,” Qrow replied and straightened up a little, “now get out of my way.”

“Quite the mouth on you,” the guy next to the first said and cracked his knuckles, “but no problem, you can go if you give us all your cash.”

“…I’m quite visibly armed,” Qrow said in astonishment tapping the handle of Harbinger, “are you _sure_ you want to do this?”

“Shut up and give us your money!” the guy right behind Qrow shouted and grabbed his shoulder. Qrow sighed and quickly kicked backwards into his groin, causing him to scream in a higher octave and slowly sink to the ground. The remaining thugs backed up a step and put up their hands.

“You little!” the one to Qrow’s left shouted as he took a swing at Qrow and missed when Qrow ducked and hit his friend due to overextending his punch. Qrow punched him in the stomach and grabbed his head and lifted it up to slam it down on his knee as he stood up. Qrow then looked to his right as the third guy recovered from the punch and swung at Qrow, which was grabbed easily. Qrow maneuvered the arm behind the thug at an angle and spun him around to slam face first into a light pole.

While Qrow took a quick breath from that the last one landed a punch on the back of Qrow’s head, which did little more than annoy him as his Aura flickered and he looked back glaring at the thug. He took a step away from Qrow, looking a little scared, and said, “I’ve made mistakes.”

“Yup,” Qrow replied and grabbed the thug’s collar, headbutted him, and dragged him over to a nearby garbage can that he took the lid off and threw the thug in head first. Qrow dusted off his hands as the thug’s legs hung limply over the side and said, “So what do you want to say?”

“I’m sorry,” the thug replied dazedly.

“I’m taking your money for wasting my time,” Qrow added taking his wallet out and pulling out all of his Lien cards.

“Fair enough,” he replied as Qrow pocketed the cards, threw the thug’s wallet on top of him, and continued on his way. It was only another minute of walking when Qrow saw the warehouse he needed to be at and, after a quick look around, made a running jump to the top of a chain-link fence and from there another jump to the edge of the building across from the warehouse. He swung his legs and flipped onto the roof and stretched his arms over his head as he watched the dark warehouse.

“It looks completely dark, save the outside street lights,” Qrow muttered and shook his head, “just my luck to get the dud.”

 _“Comms check, everyone in position?”_ Summer asked through the earpiece.

“Qrow here,” Qrow said pressing his index and middle fingers against the earpiece, “I’m in position. The place looks dead from here.”

 _“Raven here, I ran into a bit of trouble just now. I’m not that far though,”_ Raven said over the comms.

 _“You still have a few minutes Rae, but don’t dally,”_ Summer replied, _“but I agree Qrow, it’s not too busy on our end either. I don’t like it.”_

 _“But nothing happening would be good right?”_ Taiyang asked, _“I mean I know we_ want _to find something, but-“_

_“I get what you mean Tai, but I’d still like to find something.”_

_“I got to my spot,”_ Raven chimed in, _“And yeah, it’s looking pretty quiet here too. You want to just start now since we’re all in position?”_ Qrow checked his watch, saw it was only two to ten, and slipped his backpack off to dig out its contents.

 _“Yeah, it’s close enough. Masks on, codenames only, and try to keep chatter to a minimum,”_ Summer said just as Qrow pulled out his mask. The white of the mask stood out in the darkness along with its red markings, identical to Raven’s own mask in some weird point she was trying to make. He took a second to look over Raven’s handiwork and brush the front of it in case it had any dust from storage and shook his head.

 _‘She still hasn’t explained why she made our masks like this,’_ Qrow thought as he flipped the mask in his hands and slipped it on, putting just enough pressure on the top and front so it clicked into place. _‘Well whatever, time to get to work.’_ He stood up and took a few steps back before taking a running leap off the roof and transforming into his bird form midair. He flew once around the warehouse to make sure there weren’t any unpleasant surprises waiting for him before flying onto the roof and transforming back.

He slowly moved to the windows on the roof and looked down into the warehouse and sighed when he saw it was indeed empty. “Figures,” he whispered and drew Harbinger and unfolded it into its sword form, “might as well take a look to make sure.” He ran a hand along one of the creases of the windows, placed the tip of his weapon at one spot, and stabbed quickly to break the latch inside. He worked the window open enough to slip his fingers in and opened it fully, locking it open before dropping inside and landing in a crouch.

Qrow circled around once with his weapon at the ready before deciding that the warehouse was very empty and relaxed enough to stand up and sheath his weapon. “Yup, just my luck,” he sighed and stuck his hands in his pockets as he started walking through the warehouse, his footsteps echoing through the building. He stopped when he looked down and saw a very clear outline in the dust on the floor. “Or maybe not. What are you?” Qrow crouched down and ran a finger along the clean spot on the floor and held it up to see.

“No dust at all here,” he said and looked around until he saw an open side door. He stood up, wiped his hand on his pants, and pressed on his earpiece. “Jack here, my place is empty but it doesn’t look like for long. I’ll check the offices for anything.”

* * *

“She’s not human…” A thug moaned out from the spot next to a vending machine that Raven had smashed his face into. Raven herself was walking away from him and stepped onto one of his buddies as she counted the Lien she took from them.

“Nope, I’m not,” Raven said pocketing the cards, “and thanks for the spending cash!” She waved once before turning a corner and sighed as she placed a hand on her sword’s hilt. “Morons, they never learn no matter how well armed I am.”

 _“Comm’s check, everyone in position?”_ Summer said over he comms.

 _“Qrow here, I’m in position. The place looks dead from here.”_ Qrow answered.

“Raven here,” Raven said pressing the earpiece, “I ran into a bit of trouble just now. I’m not that far though.”

 _“You still have a few minutes Rae, but don’t dally,”_ Summer replied, _“but I agree Qrow, it’s not too busy on our end either. I don’t like it.”_

 _‘When is it ever easy for us?’_ Raven thought as she broke into a run and ignored her team’s chatter. She turned left and saw the top of her warehouse a ways ahead. She eyed the wall to her right and jumped at it to kick off it higher so she could side flip onto a roof top. She landed in a crouch and held her finger to her earpiece.

“I got to my spot and yeah, it’s looking pretty quiet here too. You want to just start now since we’re all in position?” Raven asked already moving her backpack off and taking her mask out.

_“Yeah, it’s close enough. Masks on, codenames only, and try to keep chatter to a minimum.”_

_‘Perfect,’_ Raven said slipping her mask on and clicking it into place. Raven couldn’t help but grin once the mask was on and ran across the roofs to the warehouse. She was particularly proud of her handiwork on the masks for her team, even if she didn’t have time to put in night-vision like she had wanted. ‘ _I’ll have to remember that later,’_ she noted to herself as she took one last jump into the warehouse yard and tucked her body in so she could land in a roll.

She ran toward the building, her eyes scanning the side of it for any entrances and settled on the slightly open loading door. She grasped her sword as she ran and slid under the door, which she cleared easily, and pushed herself up into a crouch ready to draw if necessary. After scanning the empty floor for a moment she slowly stood up and walked to where the managerial office would be, never once lowering her guard. Once she got to the door she carefully opened it and looked around at the empty desk and chair behind it, along with an empty wall safe sitting opened.

“Shit, looks like we were beaten to the punch,” Raven said taking her hand off her sword and crossing her arms as she walked over to the safe. “Question is, by who?”

_“Jack here, my place is empty but it doesn’t look like for long. I’ll check the offices for anything.”_

_‘Yup, beaten to the punch,’_ Raven thought as she pressed a finger to her earpiece and said, “Ace here, same with my place. Hey Jack, when you check your office can you keep an eye out for a safe. Mine was in the wall behind the desk.” Raven paused when she felt a creaking of wood under her foot and looked down at a painting under her feet, one of many mass produced paintings of Forever Fall that she saw everywhere at Beacon, “and it looks like it was behind a painting.”

 _“Got it,”_ Qrow answered.

 _“Thanks for the tip Ace,”_ Summer said as Raven ran a hand over the dusty desk. _“And look at that, I got a safe here as well. Closed and with a rotary lock, great.”_

“I’m sure you can crack it if you want Joker,” Raven said and walked out of the office. “I’ll look around a little more before leaving, see what I can-“

 _“Who the hell is that?”_ Tai suddenly asked a little more quietly than the others.

“King, what is it?”

* * *

“Heh, that cat thinks it’s a Huntsman. So cute,” Summer said and put her scroll away as she walked to the cashier of the convenience store with two bottles of tea.

“Welcome, will this be everything for you?” the cashier asked scanning the drinks while Summer looked behind her and sighed.

 _‘They don’t have my brand,’_ she thought before saying, “Yeah, that’ll be it,” and putting a Lien card on the counter. The cashier took the card and quickly exchanged it for a lesser card and some coins in change and gave them and the drinks to Summer.

“There you go miss. Come again!” she said waving at Summer as she walked out of the store. Once outside Summer pocketed her change and looked around the street for Taiyang.

 _‘I leave for one second to get drinks and he vanishes,’_ Summer thought and sighed, _‘where did he go?’_ Summer’s question was answered when someone in a garish purple colored track suit was sent flying out of a side street and landed upside down against a wall. “Oh, there he is,” Summer nodded.

She turned the corner in time to catch the end of Taiyang’s brawl with a few street punks, most of whom were sprawled on the ground. Taiyang caught a punch and threw his own into the gut of his attacker, slipped under his arm as he keeled over, and flipped him forward onto his back. The last one charged at Taiyang and got a straight back kick to the groin for his trouble and collapsed unceremoniously while Taiyang returned to a neutral stance and let out a breath.

“You done playing with your friends Tai?” Summer asked holding up the drinks. Taiyang looked at her and dropped his stance to walk to her, stepping over a thug that let out a small ‘Forgive me’, and grabbed one of the bottles.

“Yeah I guess,” Taiyang said opening the bottle and taking a drink. “Ah that’s good. Wanna get going?”

“Yeah, it’s not much farther now.” Summer led the way with Taiyang settling right next to her as she opened her own drink. The pair walked through the mostly bland streets of Vale’s industrial sector occasionally passing by a worker going home, both silently thankful that the last group of thugs seemed to be the last one to bother them.

“You know, if we were in any other part of the city, we’d look like we’re on a date,” Taiyang commented idly.

“Oh I’m sure,” Summer replied rolling her eyes.

“And what’s that supposed to mean? Would a date with me be that bad?”

“No comment. I will give you one thing though, you have gotten better about that. But the day you finally decide to settle down is still way far away in my book.” It was Taiyang’s turn to roll his eyes as they rounded a corner and Summer gestured at a warehouse a fair distance away with her tea. “There’s our place, time to focus up.”

“Got it boss,” Taiyang nodded and quickly finished is drink, screwed the cap back on, and tossed it at a nearby trash can before rushing ahead to the gate and looked into the warehouse yard. Summer stopped to finish her own drink, threw it away along with Taiyang’s since it missed the trash can entirely, and ran over to her teammate and jumped onto his back to get a look into the yard as well. “Doesn’t look that busy, which I guess isn’t much of a surprise. Still want to go for it?”

“We are here,” Summer replied hopping off Taiyang’s back, “we might as well look.” Summer pressed her fingers to her earpiece and said, “Comm’s check, everyone in position?”

“Ow, that’s a little too loud,” Taiyang said adjusting his earpiece’s volume.

 _“Qrow here, I’m in position,_ ” Qrow answered a moment later, _“The place looks dead from here.”_

 _“Raven here, I ran into a bit of trouble just now. I’m not that far though,”_ Raven said.

“You still have a few minutes Rae, but don’t dally,” Summer said moving past Taiyang and looking at the warehouse shaking her head, “but I agree Qrow, it’s not too busy on our end either. I don’t like it.”

“But nothing happening would be good right?” Taiyang asked getting Summer’s attention his own fingers on his earpiece, “I mean I know we want to find something, but-“

“I get what you mean Tai, but I’d still like to find something.”

 _“I got to my spot,”_ Raven spoke up, _“And yeah, it’s looking pretty quiet here too. You want to just start now since we’re all in position?”_ Summer checked her watch, saw the time, and glanced at Taiyang. After a moment, the two shrugged at each other.

“Yeah, it’s close enough. Masks on, codenames only, and try to keep chatter to a minimum,” Summer said motioning for Taiyang to spin around so she could dig through his backpack and take out their masks and the ammo. With that done Taiyang took the pack off and threw it next to a trash can, adjusted his cap to better cover his hair, and took his mask from Summer. He shook his head slightly when he saw the decorations on it (Raven was smart ass enough to make it more ‘dragon-like’) and put it on as Summer was doing the same. Summer lifted her hood over her mask and pressed against the wall and cupped her hands.

“You first,” she said. Taiyang nodded and repositioned to get a running start at her, using her hands to get enough of a boost to reach the top of the divider wall and roll over it. He landed in a crouch and looked back to see Summer Blink to the top of the wall, a trail of white petals following her as she settled on top of the wall before jumping down next to Taiyang and they both ran to the warehouse. They stopped at a single door to the side and Summer crouched down to look at the lock.

“Yeah, that looks easy enough. Cover me,” she said and rolled up one of her pant legs and dug into the side of her boot to get a pair of thin pieces of metal and stuck both of them in the lock.

”Cover me she says to the guy without a gun,” Taiyang snarked leaning against the wall next to the door and crossed his arms as he watched Summer pick the lock. “You mind if I ask something?”

“If it’s quick,” Summer replied leaning closer to the lock, “you son of a bitch, I had you!”

“Where did you learn to pick locks? Was it one of the myriad of skills your old man taught you?”

“Surprisingly no, I learned this all myself through trial and error. That’s what happens when you’re 14 and bored.” Summer paused in her picking for a second and added, “I don’t know if Dad would have taught me something like this. I’d put it at… 60% that he would have.” With a shrug Summer returned to her task.

“The more I hear about him the more I wish I could have met him,” Taiyang said rubbing the back of his neck. “He might have been able to teach us a lot.”

“He would have liked you all. Probably would have given _you_ the ‘overprotective dad’ speech, but he would have liked you.” One last click into place and Summer slowly unlocked the door, took out and put away her picks, and opened the door slightly. She drew Soleil, transformed it into its gun form, and pressed her back on the side of the door opposite Taiyang.

“I got point, breech on three,” she said to Taiyang, who nodded and moved to a better position next to the door. He counted down from three on his fingers and kicked the door open when he reached zero, Summer rushing inside with her gun at the ready. After a moment of scanning the warehouse and finding it empty, she called back “Clear,” Taiyang followed after her and shut the door behind him that stopped an inch away from closing completely.

The warehouse wasn’t that different from others that they had checked out last year: the ground floor was reserved exclusively for storage while the second floor was for the offices connected by a catwalk and metal stairs to Summer and Taiyang’s right. There were a few large crates in the storage area that Taiyang ran to while Summer approached a little more cautiously.

“Jackpot! Looks like you were right on the money Sum!” Taiyang said tapping on the wood.

“Codenames!” Summer returned angrily.

“But we’re the only ones here!” Taiyang returned and looked at Summer, _feeling_ the glare under the mask, and sighed. “Right, sorry Joker.”

“Good boy. In any case I’m not so sure.” Summer holstered her gun and ran a hand on the top of the crate, bringing it back to find her palm caked with dust. “This has been here a while. Check for a shipping notice on this.” Taiyang nodded and the pair circled the crate until Taiyang found the notice and wiped the dust off of it.

“Found it! It says it’s from ‘Olson’s furniture’,” he said reading off the label as Summer walked next to him.

“Olson’s was a mob front that got raided last year,” Summer said shaking her head, “Gun running I think.”

“So…”

“All of these are probably from similar fronts that got missed in the raids. Good to point out to the cops later, but not relevant to our _current_ investigation.”

“Couldn’t hurt to check, right?’

“Be my guest King, I’ll go check the offices.” Summer jogged away and Blinked up to one of the catwalks, pulling herself over the railing while Taiyang walked through the haphazardly placed crates.

 _“Jack here, my place is empty but it doesn’t look like for long,”_ Qrow’s said just as Summer entered the foreman’s office. It was surprisingly tidy, if a little dusty, and Summer moved around the desk and started checking the drawers. _“I’ll check the offices for anything.”_

 _“Ace here, same with my place.”_ Raven said a second later.

 _‘Well this is going well,’_ Summer thought after finding nothing in the desk and pressing her palm against her masked face. _‘This was a long shot anyway. Where next though?’_

 _“Hey Jack, when you check your office can you keep an eye out for a safe. Mine was in the wall behind the desk.”_ Summer perked up at that and turned around to the wall behind the desk, a painting of Forever Fall standing out rather conspicuously. _“And it looks like it was behind a painting.”_

 _‘There’s no way,’_ Summer thought moving to the painting, Qrow’s affirmation ringing in her ear as she pressed down on her own earpiece. “Thanks for the tip Ace,” she said taking the medium sized painting off the wall and throwing it on the floor when she saw the safe behind it. “And look at that, I got a safe here as well. Closed and with a rotary lock, great.”

 _“I’m sure you can crack it if you want Joker,”_ Raven said and Summer rolled her eyes as she gave the dial a test turn. _“I’ll look around a little more before leaving, see what I can-“_

 _“Who the hell is that?”_ Taiyang interrupted, causing Summer to freeze.

_“King, what is it?”_

_“Joker, some girl with a parasol just came in and is heading your way! You better hide or get out of there!”_

_‘Shit!’_ Summer thought looking behind her at the door before she quickly put the painting in place (a little crooked, but she didn’t care), drew Soleil and switched it back into a dagger. She hid under the desk and pressed her earpiece to say, “Ace, Jack, get over here now! We may need the backup. And remember, no identifiers Ace!”

 _“On it/got it,”_ the twins replied as Summer took a breath to steady her nerves as the door opened.

* * *

Neo’s day had been going great. Moving Dust around warehouses wasn’t exactly what she had planned to do today, but Roman trusted her with the task and she always got what he asked done. Even if she didn’t particularly like the White Fang and their weird cult behavior around a bunch of cats, they did work well and Neo had gotten most of it moved away in a day with their help. There was just one warehouse left and Neo decided to take care of it herself.

Neo approached the warehouse gate, her lithe form slipping easily through the bars, and walked to the warehouse with her parasol gripped gently behind her. She approached the one personnel door and started digging through her jacket for the skeleton key for the warehouses when she saw that the door was slightly ajar. She stared at it in confusion for a moment before realizing what that meant and carefully pushed the door open.

The inside looked normal, but looks were always deceiving; something Neo knew intimately. She scanned the ground floor a couple of times before clicking her parasol open and slinging it over her shoulder as she started walking up to the second floor. She wasn’t all that worried about any would be robbers, she could handle herself. The clanking of her footsteps on metal filled the warehouse until she reached the foreman’s office. She blinked once, the brown and pink coloring of her eyes switching places, and opened the door.

The office looked more or less normal as Neo moved through it, save for the open drawers and crooked painting. She was more concerned with the latter and took the painting off, letting out a small breath when she saw the safe was still shut. Whoever was here couldn’t get into it, which meant her task was still unsullied. She closed her parasol and mused about having to tell Roman about this as she spun the dial to the safe right, then left, then right again to open the safe. She beamed at herself when she saw the black case inside and took it out to set it down along with her parasol on a small table near the safe to check the contents.

Everything was in place, so Neo nodded and turned around with a hand on the case’s lid intent to close it when she saw the _very_ obvious thief wearing a white jacket and a white mask hiding under the desk. Neo and the thief just stood their staring at each other, Neo shut the case and tilted her head in confusion after a moment, and the thief sighed.

“Not my best hiding plan,” she said and shook her head, “Oh well, fuck it.” Then a burst of white petals filled Neo’s vision, startling her in the split second before she realized she was knocked backward onto her back on the table by the thief. She instinctively crossed her arms over her and blocked the thief’s arm as she tried to bring a dagger down on her. Neo grit her teeth as she stared at the glowing red eye holes of the mask and the thief tried to reach for the case, which was when Neo took her chance to drive her knee into the thief’s side. She grunted and brought her arm back, relieving enough pressure off of Neo’s arms for her to push the thief away from her with a kick to her stomach. She stood up, grabbed her parasol behind her, and swung it at the thief’s head.

The thief barely managed to dodge the parasol and jumped backward flipping over the desk, which was when Neo saw she had the case, and sheathed her dagger to grab the doorknob behind her. “Thanks for the present!” she shouted and rushed out of the room, leaving Neo to grit her teeth and bend her parasol before running after her. The thief made it to the first turn of the catwalk and turned to see Neo before jumping over the railing, Neo doing the same to follow her. The two landed in a crouch and Neo rushed to the thief, swinging her parasol three times. The thief blocked all three with the case with the last one being an overhead that stayed connected, the pressure from the attack slowly pushing her down to her knees.

“King!” The thief shouted suddenly. Neo was confused for a moment before realization hit her and she kicked the girl away. She spun and opened her parasol in time to block a dropkick from another thief, the force of the kick sending Neo skidding a couple yards away from them. The grit of exertion gave way to a happy smile as Neo moved the parasol over her shoulder to see the two thieves, the new one in a leather jacket and jeans and the girl getting back up to her feet.

And Neo thought tonight would be boring. She’d better take a picture for Roman.

* * *

Taiyang hadn’t been expecting this girl: pink and brown hair with eyes to match, a sharp white jacket with pink trim and boots to match to offset her otherwise black outfit. With a pink parasol and a smile of excitement that Taiyang had only ever seen on Raven before, he really only had one observation about this new girl as she took their picture with her scroll.

“What the fuck is with this ice cream chick!?” he asked looking at Summer.

“No clue, but she was after this,” Summer replied holding up a black case, “it was in that safe.”

“It’s important then. I don’t suppose you can just let us go with the case?” Taiyang asked Ice Cream. She shook her head and her smile seemed to get bigger as she put her scroll away and started to slowly walk to them. “Ah shit, she’s slow walking! I hate when they do that!”

“Quit whining King,” Summer said setting the case down and kicking it behind her. She drew Soleil again and held it in a reverse hold as she and Taiyang got into a fighting stance. “This should be over in a few minutes.”

Ice Cream rolled her eyes as Taiyang nodded and said, “On your mark Joker.”

Ice Cream didn’t give them the chance as she closed the parasol and dashed toward them, forcing Summer and Taiyang on the defensive, and swung at Summer. Summer blocked the blow but left herself open for Ice Cream to kick her stomach and knock her away. She then tried to repeat it with Taiyang, who blocked both the parasol and the kick. He wrapped his arm around Ice Cream’s leg and charged toward her to knock her off balance, but she managed to use the momentum to flip backwards while bracing herself with a hand on the floor.

Taiyang found himself flipping with her and landed roughly on his back and saw Ice Cream stand up and smiled down at him. She glanced at where Summer landed and opened her parasol when she saw Summer aiming a pistol at her. Summer fired three times at Ice Cream, all three of them blocked by the parasol, and Taiyang saw an opportunity to sweep Ice Cream’s legs out from under her. She actually fell down this time, her face full of surprise, and Taiyang followed up with a semblance enhanced kick to her side that sent her sliding across the floor. Ice Cream closed and moved her parasol and stuck it on the ground to use it as a fulcrum to launch herself into the air and back onto her feet at the same time Taiyang jumped back to his feet and into a fighting stance.

Taiyang shook his right arm a little as Summer stood up and carefully started strafing Ice Cream, who was grinning and spinning her parasol around her wrist. “Heh, you’re pretty good,” he couldn’t help but say before he ran at her. Ice Cream stopped spinning the parasol and grabbed the handle to hold at the ready. Taiyang threw a straight and hook, both of which were dodged easily by Ice Cream, and she retaliated with two swings of her own that were dodged and jumped over respectively by Taiyang.

Ice Cream took a stab at Taiyang and saw him catch it. She tried to pull it away only to find he had a strong grip and that he was rearing his other fist back and yanked her toward him before she could let go of the parasol. Taiyang landed a solid punch to Ice Cream’s stomach, doubling her over and causing her Aura to flash over her body, and followed up with a hook to her jaw and a follow-up back fist. He then grabbed her jacket and pulled her up as he reared is head back and landed a solid headbutt right on her forehead. Taiyang let her go and spun his body around as she staggered away from him to hit her with a spinning roundhouse enhanced with his semblance that left him on his back and Ice Cream flying backwards into a crate that shattered on impact.

“Joker, get the case out of here!” Taiyang shouted looking back at Summer. She nodded, switched Soleil back into a dagger, and ran to the case on the floor while Taiyang pursued Ice Cream as she stood up groggily holding her head. He reared up and tried to hit her with a high kick only for her to suddenly dodge it and lift her left leg almost completely vertically. Taiyang barely had enough time to register the grin Ice Cream had before she brought her leg down onto his head and floored him. She barely spared him a glance as she darted for Summer just as she picked up the case.

Summer glanced at Ice Cream and jumped over a sweep from her. Summer spun and landed facing Ice Cream as she stood up and charged again at Summer. She swung at Summer with her parasol, which Summer tried to block with the case and only succeeded in getting it knocked out of her hands. Both Summer and Ice Cream cringed as the case landed and slid across the floor and, when nothing happened, looked back at each other and swung at each other with parasol and dagger clashing.

They pressed against each other for a couple seconds before Summer kicked at Ice Cream, who pulled away to dodge the kick and the two spun away from each other. Summer switched Soleil into a pistol and fired at Ice Cream, who opened her parasol to block the bullets as she advanced on Summer. Soon Summer’s weapon clicked empty and she ejected the magazine and, in the time it took for her to grab a new one and slam it into place, Ice Cream closed her parasol and swung at Summer.

Summer Blinked upwards, leaving Ice Cream to swing at rose petals, and pulled the slide backwards and fired down at Ice Cream. The shot went wild and Ice Cream leapt up with her parasol pointed up to stab Summer in the gut. Summer felt the wind get knocked out of her and saw Ice Cream grab her leg to pull her further up to put her legs on Summer’s shoulders. Ice Cream kicked Summer down to the ground, smiling at how she landed roughly while she landed gracefully with her parasol open.

Ice Cream tilted her head as slowly started getting up, her Aura shimmering weakly across her body, and then at Taiyang stumbling toward her before walking over to the case and picked it up. She _could_ have murdered the both of them, but getting the case was her job right now and the murder was simply a good dessert that could be easily replaced with fro yo that Roman would reward her with. She licked her lips at _that_ thought as she reached the door she came from.

Summer, for her part, saw Ice Cream getting away with the case as she stood up and looked at Taiyang. She pointed at Ice Cream and then herself before she made a punching motion. Taiyang nodded and jogged at Summer with his left hand open just as Summer switched Soleil into a dagger and jumped at him. Taiyang moved so Summer could plant her feet on his palm and enhanced the arm as much as he dared before he launched her forward with a loud “Rhagh!”

Ice Cream, having started opening the door outside, quickly turned around in time to see Summer flying toward her. She didn’t have enough time to do more than cross her arms to block the flying girl, which did little more than provide a more spread base for Summer to launch her back into the door. The metal buckled under the force before the hinges snapped off entirely and both girls flew outside with the door under them. It skidded on the pavement for a moment, sparks flying under it, before it hit a bump and sent both of them flying and bouncing along the pavement before coming to a stop. Both of their Aura were broken and, while Summer could do little more than groan at the exertion, Ice Cream stood up and glared at Summer with brown eyes. _Now_ she was pissed and wanted to kill someone.

Summer managed to roll onto her back in time to see Ice Cream advance on her, her parasol in the same hand as the case, and pull on the handle of the parasol to draw a short sword. _‘Oh crap, this is bad!’_ Summer thought looking over at Soleil a couple of feet away.

 _“We’re here! Watch your heads!”_ Qrow said through Summer’s earpiece, which gave Summer some small relief as Ice Cream flipped the sword in her hand and raised it up.

“Hey Ice Cream, want to know a secret?” Summer said and held up four fingers as Ice Cream stopped next to her. “There’s _four_ of us!” That stopped Ice Cream for a split second as she looked at her in confusion.

Which was enough time for Qrow to fall from the sky and land right on Ice Cream’s back, kicking her away from Summer with a shout of “Tag!” Ice Cream stumbled and turned around to slash at Qrow, who had already jumped out of the way of both the slash and a sword flying hilt first at Ice Cream. It hit her in the forehead and spun in the air while Ice Cream recoiled from the blow and the world went into slow motion for Ice Cream as she saw a masked Raven fly at her. The brunette flipped in the air, landing on Ice Cream’s chest and grabbed her sword. Raven slashed at Ice Cream as she kicked her away, landing the hit on her stomach. A small splatter of blood flew through the air as Ice Cream landed and rolled backwards a couple of times before hitting the dividing wall of the warehouse yard.

Ice Cream coughed harshly before opening her eyes and seeing the bleeding wound on her stomach. She panicked and let go of her sword to grasp at the wound before looking up at her assailant. She blinked and her eyes turned to a solid gray as she saw the burning red eye holes of the mask as Raven sheathed her sword. “You ok Joker?” Raven called back turning her head enough to still keep Ice Cream in her peripheral.

“I’ll be fine,” Summer said as Qrow helped her up to her feet by putting her arm around his shoulders and pointed at Ice Cream, “but we need that case she has.”

“You’ll get it,” Raven answered and started walking to Ice Cream.

 _‘Bad bad bad bad bad!’_ continuously ran through her head as Ice Cream quickly sheathed her sword back into her parasol and scrambled to her feet, the wound hampering her more than she would have liked and had to use the wall as support.

“I don’t think so!” Raven shouted and dashed forward, drawing her sword and swinging it at Ice Cream’s chest as a look of horror crossed her face. When she made contact however the girl’s image shattered like glass, the pieces disappearing when they hit the ground. “What!?” Raven shouted as she was momentarily thrown off balance. She saw a small trail of blood going up and over the wall and jumped to the top of the wall, but didn’t find any trail to follow as she looked up and down the street. Raven let out a grunt of annoyance as she hopped back down into the warehouse yard and sheathed her sword.

“Gone?” Qrow asked as Summer gently pulled away from him.

“Yeah and she probably was the second she settled. Damn illusion semblances.”

“I’m ok too by the way,” Taiyang said as he walked out of the warehouse.

“We know you are! So who the hell was she?”

“No idea, but she kicked our asses pretty bad,” Summer answered and shook her head, “and that case she had was in that safe you told us about.”

“So, ultimately, we got nothing out of all of this?”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Summer said reaching into her jacket pocket and pulling out a vial of Ice Dust. “I managed to snag this while Ice Cream wasn’t looking.”

“Great, _one_ vial of Dust,” Taiyang said sarcastically, “That’ll be a big help.”

“It still has its identifier code,” Summer said pointing at a set of letters and numbers on the vial’s label. “If we run it by a Dust shop they should be able to tell us which shop it originally came from and when.”

“And if it was stolen we should be able to get a timeframe when it was taken,” Qrow finished and rubbed his neck, “but would that tell us _who_ stole it?”

“I don’t know, but it’s worth a shot and it’s a lead nonetheless.” Summer walked over to where Soleil lay and picked it up to sheathe it. “That’ll be for later though. For now let’s just go home, I’m beat.”

“And we made a lot of noise just now. I don’t want the cops to catch us like this,” Taiyang added and walked over to Summer, “Will you be able to walk?”

“Blinking is out of the question, but I should be able to get around well enough. Let’s get out of here, and don’t forget your pack.”

* * *

Roman whistled in appreciation at all the new crates of Dust that the squads of White Fang that Neo took brought in and stored. He took a drag from his cigar and tapped one of the metal crates with his cane, smiling at the dull metal thud it gave off. “Now _this_ is what I love to see: results! That’s why I love Neo, being able to whip even those tail-waggers into shape!”

 **“Oh really?”** Roman jumped and turned at the herald, her eyes black and red, as she walked toward him. **“I thought I told you to focus on the freighter, not the warehouses. Have you been busy with _that_ all day instead?”**

“Of course not! I’m just… admiring the handiwork,” Roman said holding his hands up placatingly, “And as for the freighter, I’ve already got everything we need for it. Good information takes time and money, especially when we’re not using Junior, but it does tend to be good.”

**“Oh really, then when is it coming in?”**

“Sunday, at Dock 21 at the shipyard. I’ve also made arrangements for any security to be either gone or ‘indisposed’ while we work. If everything goes to plan, it should be a simple snatch and grab. At least as much of a snatch and grab as we can do with shipping containers.”

 **“Hm… ok then. I suppose even lower lifeforms like humans can do good work in an age,”** the herald nodded and clasped her hands behind her back. **“Make sure you get this done fast. Otherwise-“**

A door slammed open suddenly and Roman and the herald turned to see a couple of White Fang stumbling back in shock. “Neo, is that you?” Roman shouted and started walking to the door, the herald following behind him. “I was wondering where you went after you-“ he stopped when Neo came into view, stumbling and holding a case and her parasol in one hand and her stomach with the other. When he saw her jacket’s sleeve was red with blood his cigar fell from his mouth and he rushed to her side.

“Neo! What happened!?” he shouted rushing to Neo’s side and carefully grabbing her shoulder and arm, carefully moving the arm out of the way to get a better look at the wound as she leaned against him for support. “Oh that looks bad. Shallow, but bad. Let’s take care of that right now. Will one of you mongrels get a medic!” The White Fang started scrambling when Neo tapped Roman’s arm and held up the black case, which he took and threw to the ground while saying, “I don’t care about that! How did this happen?”

Neo switched the arm holding her stomach and slowly pulled out her scroll to flick it open and pull up the picture of the thieves she had taken. She gave Roman the scroll and hissed from the pain in her stomach while he looked at the picture and scowled. _‘Just what I need, more problems.’_

 **“Is something the matter?”** The herald asked taking the scroll from Roman and looking at the picture.

“No, just another small problem,” Roman answered and adjusted his grip on Neo, “I’ll take care of it later.”

**“And what about her? Will she be ready for the heist?”**

“Why don’t you focus on _your_ men and I’ll focus on _mine._ If she’s not ready then she’ll rest! Come on Neo, let’s get that taken care of.” The herald watched Roman carefully lead Neo away for a moment before she looked back down at the scroll and the white masked thieves.

**“You’ll take care of it huh? After this, trust is at a low Torchwick. And if there’s one thing I learned, it’s that some things require a personal touch.”**


	19. New arrivals

“Come on, pick up already,” Summer muttered as she listened to the ringing through her scroll. The encounter she had last night was still with her, burning a hole in her mind almost as much as the vial of Dust in her pocket. She was about to give up and call someone else when he _finally_ picked up. “Hello, it’s Summer Rose. No I don’t want anything delivered. No, I… listen for a second! Are you close to your computer?” Summer took out the vial as he gave an affirmative grunt. “Good, I have a vial of Dust that I need identified. Can you… oh cool. Right, the code is ‘SDC-0648-92BS’. No, ‘BS’. Bravo Sierra. Yeah, I can hold.”

“We’re back,” Raven said as she and the boys walked up to Summer.

“And we got milkshakes!” Taiyang added holding a drink out to Summer, “It’s your favorite flavor too!”

“Yeah thanks Tai,” Summer said putting the Dust vial away and taking the milkshake and pressing her scroll closer to her ear. Her team got the hint and all moved to sit against the building next to her. They drank their milkshakes and watched people walk past them as they went about their business until Summer said, “Yeah, I’m still here. You got anything?” Summer listened for a moment before she perked up and walked a few steps away from the building. “Really? And you’re sure?” Another moment passed and Summer nodded. “No, that’s pretty much all I needed. Of course I’m going to turn it in, who do you think I am? Right. I’ll let you get back to your business, thanks again. Bye.”

Summer shut her scroll, put it away, and turned to her awaiting teammates. After a second she grinned widely and threw up the horns. “We got a hit!”

“Nice, from where?” Qrow asked jumping to his feet as Summer took the vial out and held it up.

“Old Man Shopkeep ran the code and it was last registered to _his_ shop. Even better, it turns out this was one of the few pieces of his merchandise stolen by a certain someone a couple of months ago.”

“Torchwick,” Raven finished. Summer nodded and put the vial away as Raven continued, “so that Ice Cream chick was retrieving Torchwick’s stolen goods. Which means he’s probably still in Vale.”

“Still active,” Qrow continued.

“And he’s got hardcore ass-kickers like Ice Cream working for him,” Taiyang finished with a sigh. “Just like us to be both lucky and unlucky at the same time. What’s the plan now Sum?” Summer hummed, swirled her milkshake, and started walking.

“Let’s go for a walk, I need to get my brain juices flowing,” she answered as her team caught up with her. She took a drink of her milkshake, relishing the strawberry flavor, and looked up at the blue sky. _‘But man is it a nice day. I love summers in Vale.’_

The weather was nice and, according to the forecast, it would only stay that way with rising temperatures too. It was warm enough that Summer almost didn’t bother bringing her jacket, though she did and simply left it half zipped up and practically hanging off her arms. She was also thankful that she decided to switch out for a red tank top for the day. Summer glanced back at her team to check on them, their outfits still more or less the same from yesterday except for Raven. The madwoman was actually still wearing all black in this heat, even if she did have a tank top instead of a T-shirt.

Summer shook her head and turned a corner onto Vale Boulevard, stopping along with her team when she saw Old Man Shopkeep hanging up a banner that read ‘Happy Vytal Festival!’ When it was done he looked at them from atop the ladder and waved, Summer returning it with a smile. _‘How did he…? No never mind, it’s not worth it.’_ “I almost forgot about the Vytal Festival! We gotta get all this wrapped up before it’s here.”

“Agreed,” Taiyang nodded and threw away his finished milkshake, “the last thing we need is our kingdom’s reputation being ruined by Dust robberies.”

“I guess,” Qrow shrugged.

“What do you mean ‘I gue-‘,” Taiyang started before stopping and snapping his fingers, “Oh that’s right, you two never really cared about the Vytal Festival huh?”

“We grew up outside the Kingdoms, so of course not,” Raven answered rolling her eyes.

“Doesn’t mean we’re not open to learning though,” Qrow continued glancing at his sister, “so what’s the big deal?”

“It’s only the biannual celebration of the end of the Great War!” Summer said continuing her walk down the Boulevard, “when one of the Kingdoms host it, they open their borders to the others to share their culture. There’s parades, dances, food, oh god the food! I gotta keep an eye open for any new recipes!”

“That sounds… great,” Raven said flatly as Summer turned to her with a smile.

“And there’s a fighting tournament to cap it all off!” _That_ got Raven’s attention, if the way she darted to Summer and pressed her face to hers was any indication.

“I’m sorry, a tournament? Like, real fights?”

“Yep,” Summer said backing away from her partner, “Academy teams from all over Remnant enter to show their skills. The team that wins the whole thing earns everlasting glory for themselves and their Kingdom!”

“Is there a cash prize?”

“No,” Summer answered and tried to hold back laughter at how Raven deflated, “just the glory. But really, that’s more than enough for me.”

“Win the tournament, build our legend some more?” Qrow asked and Summer nodded. “I’m fine with that. Should be fun in any case.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Raven conceded and threw her empty drink over her shoulder, which landed perfectly in a nearby trash can. “And hey, becoming legendary is a better long term plan to get money.”

“True that,” Taiyang nodded and started leading the way. “I can’t wait, I went to the last Festival in Mistral with my folks and it was a blast and a half! We even had front row seats in Amity Colosseum when Vacuo’s Team ACTC won! You know, Huntsman from the other Kingdoms should be coming in today, maybe we can-“ Taiyang turned the corner and stopped, Raven almost running into him, when he saw a small shop littered with police, the yellow tape drawing their attention.

“Ah hell,” Qrow said as Summer started jogging to the shop, him, Raven, and Taiyang following not far behind.

“What happened here?” Summer asked once she got to the tape.

One of the detectives looked up from his scroll to answer, “Robbery. This is the second shop to get hit this week. This city’s turning into a jungle.” He walked to the store front shaking his head, leaving Team STRQ more or less to themselves.

“Looks pretty recent if the cops are still here,” Raven commented, “I’d bet it happened last night or early morning.” Summer gave an affirmative grunt and sagged her shoulders a little.

“Hey,” Qrow said putting a hand on Summer’s shoulder, “We couldn’t have known.”

“I know,” Summer nodded and smiled at Qrow, “Pick your battles, right?” Qrow nodded in response and pulled is hand away.

“They left all the money behind again, just took the Dust.” Summer perked up and looked at the two detectives examining the store front.

“Yup, same as the others, but who would need that much Dust?” the detective from before asked, his partner shrugging in response. “You thinking the… White Fang guys are behind this?”

“I’m thinking _that_ is beyond our pay grade.”

“White Fang? Interesting…” Summer muttered and started walking away sucking on her shake.

“Idiots,” Raven said shaking her head as they crossed the street and headed for the waterfront, “Why the hell would an extremist group like the Fang rob small Dust shops?”

“That’s not the only thing I caught,” Qrow said glancing back at the shop, “You thinking what I am Sis?”

“Why do those detectives sound like Tai and Oobleck?”

“…Wait, what the fuck!?” Taiyang shouted and looked back at the shop, the detectives glancing their way.

“Ok, there is that too,” Qrow conceded, “but I was talking about _what_ was stolen.”

“Just Dust, no money,” Summer said when they got to an intersection and pressed the button to cross, “the same thing happened at ‘From Dust till Dawn’; Torchwick said ‘we’re not here for your money’. What criminal wouldn’t take ‘free’ money?”

“Morons,” Raven answered.

“Or people after something bigger,” Taiyang also answered as the crossing light turned green and they started walking, “You think he’s selling them on the black market Sum?”

“Possible, but then there’s also the White Fang. The police wouldn’t be looking into them unless they had a reason too.” Summer leaned against a railing, the salt and smell of dead fish from the waterfront filling the air, and sighed. “Maybe a witness saw something and they’re working that angle?”

“But again, why?” Raven asked resting her back against the railing, “The Fang is practically a standing army all its own, why would they need to steal Dust. If that’s the low they’d have to go to, they’d be in much bigger trouble than they seem to be.”

“True,” Summer finished her shake and dropped it over the railing into a can on the dock. “Too many questions and not enough answers. I can’t say I missed this.”

“Eh, it was bound to happen,” Qrow shrugged and sat down on the pavement and leaned against the railing, Taiyang settling next to him. “We had almost no information from the start. It’s not like a lead will just plop itself down right in front of us after all.”

“Someone stop that Faunus!” A voice shouted coming from a cargo ship that had just finished mooring.

“Ugh, you’re kidding me,” Qrow sighed and stood up to watch the ship with his team, more specifically a couple of sailors chasing after someone in a white shirt. Another sailor had gotten in front to cut him off, but the Faunus (Qrow could just barely make out a tail) hopped on the railing, bounced to the wall, and pushed off it to dive over the sailor. He landed in a roll and used the momentum to spring up onto the railing again.

“Thanks for the ride boys. Sayonara!” he shouted and jumped off, managing to get the distance to grab a light pole. He swung off that to the next, which he caught with his tail.

“You’re a no good stowaway, you know that!” One of the sailors shouted, unable to do much more.

“Wrong, a ‘no good’ stowaway would have been caught,” he countered and took a banana out of his shirt, “I wasn’t, so I’m a _great_ stowaway!”

“He’s not wrong,” Raven said with a shrug.

“Not the point Rae,” Summer sighed.

“Alright, nobody move! We’re asking the questions here!” the bearded detective shouted, his partner right behind him, as they walked onto the dock.

“What?” Taiyang asked looking back at the Dust shop and the detectives several times, “how did they…?”

“They must be faster than they look,” Qrow said and went back to loudly drinking his milkshake as events unfolded.

“And you,” the detective said and shouted at the Faunus, who took a bite from the banana and pointed at himself. “Yes you, get down from there! You’re creating a public hazard.”

“I’m just hanging around man,” the Faunus said finishing the banana in a single bite and throwing the peel at the detective, which landed on his face. “Now that, that is a public hazard,” he added and swung around the light pole to sit on top of it.

“That’s it!” the second detective shouted and shook his fist, “get down here now!”

“You’ll have to catch me first pigs!” the Faunus shouted and leapt off the light pole and landed in a roll on the dock before taking off into a sprint. He then hopped onto the railing of the stairs leading up and jumped the distance up to the railing that STRQ was standing at. He grabbed the top of it and flipped over it and flew above a confused STRQ (save Qrow still boredly drinking his shake). While he was flipping in the air the Faunus winked and gave Summer and Raven finger guns before landing.

This was the first time Summer got clear look at him. A mop of blonde hair that was somehow messier than Taiyang’s, a white button up shirt that was left unbuttoned to show off his muscular chest, red gauntlets, a pair of jeans with the legs rolled up to his knees, a pair of black and yellow sneakers, and most prominent was his monkey tail. He quickly checked behind him to see the detectives running up the stairs after him and took off in a sprint.

“Did… did that seriously just happen?” Raven asked baffled.

“Yup,” Taiyang nodded and looked over at Summer in time to see her dashing after the Faunus, the question he had for her dying on his lips. “And of course she’s running after him.”

“Come on, let’s get after them!” Raven said and started running, Taiyang right behind her. Qrow, on the other hand, took the time to finish his milkshake and throw it away, at which point the detectives were already ahead of him when he started running as well.

* * *

Summer had her work cut out for her chasing the Faunus since he was a lot more spry than he looked, and he looked pretty spry. Summer looked behind her, focusing on a sedan coming up behind her, before jumping and Blinking to the side onto the car. It swerved a little when she landed, but she kept her footing and caught up with the Faunus in no time. He looked behind him and dodged just as Summer Blinked toward him. She flew past him and skid to a quick stop, rose petals flying with her as Summer hit the sidewalk and skid around 180 degrees to face him with a hand against the pavement to steady her balance.

“Whoa, easy there!” he shouted and ran past Summer, who quickly ran after him with a look of determination. They were quickly coming up to an intersection which meant he would have to stop, or at least that’s what Summer thought since he instead decided to jump to the top of the street light and jump across the street. He landed neatly, startling a few pedestrians, and turned around to look at a stopped Summer with his arms behind his head. “Sorry about that, but I gotta jet! It was fun while it la-“ he shouted across the traffic, getting cut off when Summer backed up, charged, and jumped into traffic. She Blinked the rest of the way, barely missing a semi-truck, and landed feet first on a wall and pushed off it toward the ground, planted a hand against the side walk, and flipped onto her feet.

When she was settled she looked at the astonished Faunus, casually put her hands in her jacket, and said, “Hi.”

“Right,” he replied holding his index fingers up before turning around and running away again past some pedestrians.

“Get back here!” Summer shouted and gave chase again.

“Geez lady, I’m sorry if I offended you or something!” he shouted behind him just as he came up to another intersection, his tail hooking around the pole to swing him to the right around it into the boulevard. Summer jumped onto the wall to her right, ran along it for a moment, and Blinked forward with her hands over her head to catch the pole as well. She let the momentum carry her into a spin around the pole before letting go to go flying down the street after the Faunus, who she saw was running backwards to watch her land in a roll and continue the chase.

“Ok, that was pretty cool!” he complimented turning around and darting past a peanut stand to the other side of the boulevard, Summer lagging behind him just a little due to the crowd as he went past another corner to the left. “Whoops, excuse me!” she heard him shout just as she turned a corner as well.

And ran smack into something really solid that she knocked to the ground. Summer pushed herself up in time to see the Faunus leap onto a light pole and then up onto a rooftop. “Damn!” she said pushing herself up onto her knees as the detectives, to Summer’s bafflement, ran past her and stared up at the same rooftop. “Wow, they really are fast.”

“Summer!” Raven shouted having just caught up with Summer along with Taiyang and Qrow, “About time you- oh…”

“Hey guys,” Summer said and tugged on a lock of hair, “I lost him.”

“Uh… Sum?” Taiyang said pointing down at the ground beneath Summer. She followed the finger and stared at a freckled redhead in a beige dress with green highlights smiling widely up at her for a few seconds before scrambling off her with a scream.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there!” Summer said in a panic.

“Salutations!” the redhead said happily waving at Summer. Summer stopped panicking and looked at Raven, who shared her look of confusion. “You seem to be in quite the hurry.”

“I… never mind that.”

“Are you ok?” Taiyang asked.

“Buster Wolf!”

“What?”

“…I’m sorry, I meant to say ‘I’m fine’.” The girl then started scratching her head and added, “Where did that come from?”

“So… you’re not hurt?”

“Correct,” she said laying her arm flat at her side again.

“Do you want to get up?” Qrow asked.

“…Yes I do!” She nodded before bracing her hands behind her head, lifting her legs over her, and launching herself into a spin in the air. After a few spins she landed feet first in a crouch, the last of the momentum dying in one last spin, and hopped up straight. She then brushed off her dress and thigh high black boots before she clasped her hands behind her as she turned to Team STRQ, very much ignoring how they were leaning away from her wide eyed. “My name is Penny Polendina, it’s a pleasure to meet you all!”

“Right…” Summer said straightening up, “well, my name is Summer Rose.”

“Taiyang Xiao Long,” Taiyang said giving a two fingered salute, “but you can just call me Tai.”

“Qrow Branwen, and this is my sister Raven,” Qrow said gesturing to Raven.

“Are you sure you didn’t hit your head or something?” Raven asked and swiftly got a fist to the back of her head courtesy of Qrow, causing her to rub the back of her head and add, “Ow, you motherfu-“

“Those are all lovely names!” Penny interrupted cheerfully, “It’s a pleasure to meet you all!”

“You… already said that,” Qrow said.

“…So I did!” The silence between them hung for an uncomfortable amount of time until Raven blew out a raspberry to break it.

“So… nice to meet you… we gotta go,” she said before walking away.

“Ok,” Penny said with a nod.

“I’m… glad you’re understanding,” Summer said as she started walking away with Qrow and Taiyang, “Well, see you around friend.”

Little did Summer know, as Penny stared at Summer as she rounded a corner, just what kind of mildly temperate hell she had unleashed on herself.

“Well, she was… unique,” Qrow said once they were by themselves again.

“That’s a word for it,” Raven replied crossing her arms, “Fucking weird is another.”

“Maybe she did hit her head when you knocked her over,” Taiyang said scratching the back of his head.

“Tai!” Summer shouted at him, causing Taiyang to hold his hands up placatingly, and shook her head. “Whatever, at least she seemed alright. Back to more important things.”

“Why were you so intent on catching that Faunus?” Qrow asked looking back at Summer, “It’s not like we haven’t stowed away on a ship once or twice.”

“Call it a gut feeling,” Summer said rubbing her chin in thought, “every time some colorful personality comes into our lives, they turn out to be important in some way.”

“I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed that,” Taiyang said, “Penny’s a good example.”

“Oh god, please don’t let her be important,” Raven pleaded to no one in particular and rubbed her face as she turned a corner. “And back on topic, I still think the White Fang is a dead end lead. We’d be better off- WHAT THE-!?”

“What did you call me?” Penny asked, inexplicably standing in front of STRQ and forcing them to stop short.

“Where did you come from!?” Raven asked glancing at the street behind her.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were listening to us!” Taiyang apologized.

“Not you,” Penny corrected and shoved past Qrow, Raven, and Taiyang, ignoring their protests, to approach Summer and lean in _way_ too close, “you.”

“Wha…?” Summer stammered out and tried to lean away from Penny, to no avail since she continued to lean in as well, “I- I don’t know what-“

“You called me ‘friend’,” she said and squinted her eyes just slightly, “Am I _really_ your friend?”

“Penny please, personal space!” Summer said and pushed Penny away from her. Thankfully she did stay where Summer pushed her even if she did keep staring at her with those green eyes. _‘God, please blink or something!’_ “Well, Penny, I… wait.”

“Oh boy,” Qrow muttered as Summer turned her back to them and bit her index finger lightly.

 _‘This is actually perfect! I can finally test how far I’ve come socially! No close calls with Goliaths, no being forced to interact because of errant eggs, just a… semi-normal girl that wants to be friends! I mean, I_ did _knock her down, but she doesn’t seem to mind all that much. What could be better?’_

“You’re cackling maniacally again,” Raven said, which brought Summer out of her thoughts and put a stop to said laughter.

“What, no I’m not, shut up,” Summer said turning back to Penny, who hadn’t moved at all. _‘Is she even breathing?’_ Summer wondered to herself before letting it go. “Anyway, Penny, of course we’re friends! That is, if it’s ok with you.” After a second, Penny’s face slowly grew a wide smile and her eyes shined with glee.

“Fantabulous!” Penny shouted loudly holding her hands over her head, which Summer smiled at until she rushed forward and pulled Summer into a crushing hug, the girl giving out a yelp as her head was held tightly against the red head’s chest. “Oh Frabjous day! Callooh callay! I’ve only arrived here yesterday and I already have a friend!”

“Yesterday?” Taiyang asked, “Wait, you’re not from here?”

“No,” Penny answered and turned around, Summer still crushed against her chest and swinging helplessly, “I came from Atlas to fight in the tournament.”

“Can you let go of our leader before she suffocates?” Raven said pointing at Summer. Penny looked down at her new friend to see her eyes were wide and her face was turning slightly blue.

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” she said and let Summer go, who collapsed to her knees with a deep intake of air.

“I-it’s fine, I’ll be ok,” Summer gasped out and coughed for a second before getting back up to her feet. “She’s stronger than she looks. Anyway, you’re here for the tournament? You’re a fighter?”

“Mhmm, I’m combat ready!” Penny said and gave a full salute.

“Stop that,” Raven said annoyed, which only got a confused blink from Penny.

“Forget her,” Summer said waving a hand dismissively, “If you’re from out of the kingdom, then you might know that Faunus I was chasing earlier.”

“The monkey Faunus with the blonde hair and amazingly chiseled abs?” Penny asked.

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

“Nope, I’ve never seen him before in my life!” Penny answered and bounced cheerfully.

“Of course you wouldn’t,” Summer said pinching the bridge of her nose, “it was pure desperation to even ask. Oh well.”

“Again, why are you so focused on him? You think he’s White Fang or something?” Qrow asked.

“Of course not, I’m not some racist jackass who goes Faunus equals White Fang. If anything, the Faunus have more reason to hate the Fang than anyone. I’m just curious is all.”

“What about the White Fang?” Penny asked peeking over Summer’s shoulder.

“None of your business Penny. Don’t worry about it.”

“Ok!”

“So what do you want to do now? He’s probably long gone by now,” Taiyang said.

“Probably, and chasing him around has made me hungry,” Summer said with a nod, “Let’s go get lunch and brainstorm on this later. Sound good?” Her team nodded and Summer felt Penny rest her head on her other shoulder.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“…Tell you what Penny, why don’t _you_ pick where we’re going to eat.”

“But… I don’t know any of the restaurants in this city,” Penny replied moving around Summer.

“And that’s why it’ll be so much fun!”

“Yeah, like playing Atlas Roulette with five bullets,” Raven snarked with an eye roll.

“…Splendid! I won’t let you down friend!” Penny said excitedly and grabbed the back of Summer’s tank top to drag her down the street, said girl giving a shriek of surprise at suddenly being dragged.

“Why do we always attract the freaks?” Raven quietly lamented and slouched down.

“Because they make life more fun,” Taiyang answered and started following Penny, “Now come on, let’s make sure she picks somewhere actually edible.”

“We have to steer her away from 42nd or else she might pick that really spicy Mistralian shop!” Qrow said in worry and looked at his sister, who had to take a second to realize what he meant and got the same look of worry.

“You’re right. Hey Penny, I got a great idea of where to go!” Raven shouted and ran down the street with Qrow.

All of them were unaware of the person watching them from the rooftops. “White Fang huh? Interesting.”

* * *

Through the combined efforts of Team STRQ and Penny’s own natural curiosity, they managed to get Penny to choose one of the many Simple Wok stands dotted around the city. They all got their usual orders, though Penny herself didn’t order anything.

“Are you not hungry?” Summer asked since she was the only one to actually notice that. Considering Penny was just sitting there watching Summer eat, that wasn’t exactly difficult.

“I’m ok, I had a big lunch,” Penny replied and then hiccupped very noticeably. Summer blinked at that but shrugged it off when Penny smiled afterwards.

“Certainly sounds like it. You should try to drink some water later.” Penny nodded and Summer pointed at Raven with her chopsticks and asked, “Can you pass the ginger Rae?” Raven silently did so before going back to her own bowl. Summer started adding ginger to her bowl when she heard a beeping coming from Penny, who took out a scroll and opened it. After a second she quickly got up from her seat and holding her scroll nervously.

“Um, I… I have to go now. So…” Penny said taking a few nervous steps back.

“If you got to go, you got to go,” Summer said with a nod, “Don’t let us keep you.”

“Thank you,” Penny said putting her scroll, “Goodbye, I hope to see you again soon!” She bowed at Summer before running away, her arms held stiffly at her side. Summer watched her until she turned a corner and disappeared.

“Well that was abrupt,” Qrow commented and looked at Summer when she turned to him, “you think she has a meeting or something?”

“Or she did what I would do as a kid when my folks had a quick hunt: set a timer, enjoy myself in town, then haul ass back home when the timer goes off,” Taiyang said pushing his empty bowl forward.

“That sounds more likely,” Summer agreed and tilted her bowl back to drink down the rest of the noodles and soup and set it down when it was empty and checked her watch. “But she has a point though, it is getting late. We should be heading back soon.”

“I’m still eating,” Qrow said holding up his bowl.

“Oy, can I have another bowl here!” Raven called out setting her empty bowl down.

“Fine, I can take a hint,” Summer said rolling her eyes and standing up, “Come on Tai, let’s leave them to catch up.”

“Okay,” Taiyang said and got up to follow Summer.

“Text us when you get back to Beacon ok?” Raven called out as they walked away, Summer replying with a thumbs up, and waited until they disappeared around the corner to look at her brother. “So level with me, am I the only one who thinks that Penny girl is weird?”

“Nah, I’m getting the same vibe,” Qrow replied setting his chopsticks on his bowl and leaning forward with his arms crossed on the counter. “Forget first time out of her Kingdom, she’s acting like it’s the first time she’s ever been out of her house.”

“Sheltered maybe?”

“That’d be one thing, but if she’s right about fighting in the tournament that complicates things. We both know how Ironwood is.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Raven said rolling her eyes slightly. The vendor placed a fresh bowl of noodles in front of Raven, who took it and quickly swallowed a mouthful of noodles. “Well whatever, as long as her weirdness doesn’t directly affect my life she can go right ahead with it. Summer seems to be happy to have a new playmate in any case.”

“…Are you jealous or something?” Qrow asked and immediately got a set of chopsticks pointed at him.

“I will stab your eyes out with these chopsticks and eat them if you say something like that again,” she said waving the sticks vaguely in Qrow’s direction.

“Sure thing sis,” Qrow replied with a chuckle and went back to eating his noodles, the siblings spending the rest of their time at the stall in relative silence.

* * *

Later in the day, after Qrow and Raven had finished eating and took a portal back to Beacon once they got a text from Summer, Team STRQ were winding down in their rooms in their own ways. Taiyang was finishing up a set of pushups and the girls were lying on Raven’s bed, Summer on top of Raven, and alternated between reading a comic book and watching Taiyang until Qrow came out of the bathroom in his pajama pants and drying his hair with a towel.

“I’m done with the shower Rae,” Qrow said peeking his head out of the towel, “and I’m pretty sure there’s still hot water. Maybe.”

“I’ll take the risk,” Raven said closing the comic and setting to the side on her bed. “Get off me Summer,” she added rolling her body to knock Summer off of her back, the smaller girl giving a small ‘Whee!’ as she rolled, and got off her bed to enter the bathroom.

Qrow hung his towel around his shoulder and moved to his dresser to dig out a shirt. “So Sum, you have any idea on what to do next with our project?” Qrow asked once he found a shirt and turned to find Summer staring at him. “Summer?”

“…I’m sorry, I was looking at your abs,” she replied frankly looking up at him.

“Yeah I’m aware. Answer my question please,” Qrow replied throwing the towel into the laundry pile and putting the shirt on. Taiyang looked up from his pushups to watch as Summer sighed and lay back on the bed, her arms crossed under her head.

“Honestly, I have no idea,” she said closing her eyes, “we got _unbelievably_ lucky last night to get what we got.”

“Yeah, if you call getting our asses kicked by some Ice Cream Girl ‘lucky’,” Taiyang said and moved to sit cross legged on the floor. “But isn’t that how it usually is for us; getting lucky with leads and not much else?”

“I would _really_ like it if that wasn’t the case. I mean, wouldn’t it be great if a lead just fell right into our laps to get us exactly what we wanted?”

“No way in hell we’d get that lucky,” Qrow said shaking his head, “Our luck would be more along the lines of Salem being a cook here.”

“Please don’t jinx us Qrow,” Taiyang said tapping the ground twice.

“In any case,” Summer said rolling her body to sit cross legged and crossed her arms, “we’d be more productive thinking instead of complaining. So, what can we do to-“ Summer was interrupted by the sound of someone knocking against glass. She, Qrow, and Taiyang turned to the window to find the Monkey Faunus from before hanging from his tail on the tree outside and pressing his face against the glass.

“Hey, are you guys STRQ?” he asked tapping the glass again, not noticing the way Summer narrowed her eyes at him, “I wanted to-“

“GET HIM!” Summer shouted pointing at him, Qrow and Taiyang darting past her to the window. The Faunus _did_ see that and pushed away from the window just as Qrow opened them, but not far enough away to keep Taiyang from grabbing his shirt and dragging him inside.

“Yo wait, chill chill!” he shouted the whole way, barely noticing Qrow shut the window as he was set down on a chair against the wall. He shook his head to settle the dizziness and asked, “What gives!?” which was answered by Summer planting a foot on the wall near his head.

“We’ll be the ones asking the questions here, got that?” Summer asked staring down at the Faunus now sitting ramrod straight.

“…Is it weird to be both intimidated and attracted right now?” The Faunus asked glancing at Taiyang and Qrow.

“Not in the slightest,” Taiyang replied and Qrow nodded.

“Shut up,” Summer said taking her leg down and crossing her arms, “Get his scroll.”

“Easy, I don’t want any trouble!” The Faunus said taking his scroll out of his jean pocket and holding it out to Summer.

“It’s a little too late for that,” Summer said taking the scroll and flicking it open. After a moment of scrolling she pulled up the Faunus’ ID. “Let’s see, you are Sun Wukong from… Haven Academy? You’re a Huntsman?”

“First year,” Sun replied crossing his arms behind is head and crossing his legs, “I know, I totally look it right?” Summer decided not to entertain that comment and went back to his scroll.

“You’re also a member of… how the hell do you pronounce that?” Summer squinted her eyes at Sun’s team name of SSSN and felt Qrow and Taiyang walk behind her.

“Yeah, what is that?” Qrow asked.

“Sarsaparilla?” Taiyang ventured.

“How do you get sarsaparilla from that?”

“It’s ‘Sun’. Team ‘Sun’,” Sun finally said with a grin, clearly enjoying the show going on.

“…Sure,” Taiyang said shaking is head slightly, “You’re quite gutsy coming to us after what happened earlier. Why are you here?”

“I wanted to talk to you guys,” Sun said uncrossing his limbs, “especially if you guys are doing what I think you’re doing.”

“And how exactly did you find out where we were?” Qrow asked.

“Oh that was easy.”

* * *

_Not that long ago, Sun had got to Beacon Academy. That girl that had chased him and her team couldn’t be anything_ but _Huntsman, and since he was going to be staying here for a while anyway he may as well find them. Easier said than done though, so Sun decided to ask the first person he could find. That happened to be a girl in a pink sweater with sheep horns playing with a cat._

_“Uh, excuse me?” he asked getting her attention._

_“Uh, yes? Can I… oh wow, you can grind meat on those,” she said immediately staring at Sun’s abs._

_“Yeah I’m really proud of them, can you help me or not?”_

_“Ah, sorry.” She shook her head and stood up to actually look at Sun. “Yes?”_

_“I’m trying to find this really scary girl and her team. I think they might be here and they look like this,” Sun said taking out a drawing of the team he was looking for, though it was little more than a scribble of black and yellow in the shape of four people._

_“Oh you’re looking for Team STRQ,” she said smiling widely, “I’ll show you where their dorm is and tell you all about them on the way!”_

_Sun, more than a little baffled, looked at his drawing and back at her before asking, “Seriously?”_

_“You came to Beacon Academy and you’re looking for a team, of course you’re looking for STRQ,” she replied rolling her eyes. “They’re only the most infamous Academy team in the world.”_

_“…Right! Of course that’s who I mean! So… what are their names?”_

* * *

“Supreme stroke of luck on my part that it actually was you guys she meant. I gotta thank that girl later,” Sun finished nodding his head.

“Fucking Maribelle!” Summer muttered clenching a shaking fist in front of her. _‘I’ll get her back for this somehow!’_

“Ok, so we know why you’re here,” Taiyang said pointing down at the floor, “but why are you _here_ , in Vale?”

“The Vytal Tournament,” Sun replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, “I mean, who wouldn’t want to fight in it?”

“And you stowed away on a cargo ship for that?” Qrow asked.

“I can’t just sit around doing nothing while waiting for ‘airships’ to take us places,” Sun said with a quick finger quote, “So I hopped on the first ship I found. I… maybe left my team behind, but I’m sure they’ll understand. I mean, who hasn’t stowed away at least once in their lives?”

“Our particular misdemeanors go a bit beyond stowing away,” Qrow said rubbing his neck in embarrassment.

“Too true,” Summer sighed shutting Sun’s scroll and tossing it back to him, which he caught and put away as Summer went to sit on Raven’s bed. “Sorry about all the scare tactics Sun. We can’t be too careful, especially right now.”

“No I get it. Got to be careful, especially if you’re going after the White Fang,” Sun agreed putting away his scroll, completely missing the shocked looks Qrow and Taiyang shot Summer that practically screamed ‘no fucking way!’

“And what exactly do you know about the Fang?” Summer asked gripping the bedsheets in anticipation.

“About the same as every other Faunus; the White Fang are a bunch of self-serving, holier than thou scumbags who give good Faunus a bad rep. If you guys are going after them, then I definitely want in. So what did they do to you guys anyway?”

“Well, nothing,” Qrow said sitting down next to Summer.

“Huh?”

“We’re actually looking into Dust robberies that have been going on around the city, most definitely local criminal groups,” Summer clarified. “The police seem to think the Fang are behind the robberies, and they wouldn’t think that unless they had good reason, but I disagree with them on that.”

“The White Fang are practically an army all on their own,” Taiyang continued, “with supply lines and all. They wouldn’t _need_ to steal Dust at all.”

“…But what if they do?” Sun asked standing up.

“Huh?”

“I mean, this might just be me,” he continued gesturing with his arms and tail, “but the best way to find out if someone is behind something or not is to go somewhere where they _would_ be and then not find them. Right?”

“It’s the ‘where’ that’s the problem there,” Summer said deliberately ignoring Sun’s finger guns at her and looked down at the floor. “We don’t know ‘where’ they would be or ‘when’ for that matter.” Summer looked back up at Sun, who was smiling smugly and polishing the knuckles of his right hand against his shirt. “What’s with the smug attitude?”

“I _may_ have heard a thing or two that may interest you guys and I _may_ share it with you _if_ you guys let me in on this.

“You’re the one with the info man,” Qrow said.

“We would be dead stalled without it,” Taiyang continued.

“And you seem the type to get involved even if we told you not to,” Summer finished.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Sun shrugged. “So anyway, I heard some sailors on that ship talking while I was in my banana crate. Apparently there’s a big shipment of Dust from Atlas coming here. If you guys have people stealing it, that would be a good place to look.”

“We have been hurting for Dust for a while,” Qrow said rubbing his chin, “it makes sense that we’d get something like that sooner or later.”

“How big?” Taiyang asked leaning against his and Summer’s beds.

“HUGE!” Sun said extending his arms out to the side, “Big Schnee Dust Company freighter with like fifty containers full of Dust.”

Taiyang let out a whistle and looked at Summer. “If I was stealing Dust, I’d go for that.”

“Agreed,” Summer nodded and leaned forward, “When is it coming here?”

“In two days,” Sun said as he held up two fingers.

“That’s not a lot of time to prepare,” Qrow said crossing his arms.

“We’ve managed worse,” Summer said standing up and pacing, “But that’s not what I’m worried about.”

“Hm?”

“Say that the police and Sun are right and the White Fang are involved. If we go there, stake out the shipment, and the Fang _do_ show up… I honestly don’t like our odds.”

“Didn’t you say we managed worse just now?” Taiyang asked leaning off the beds.

“Grimm and lowlife criminals are one thing Tai, but we’re talking about the White Fang here; an organized group of Faunus hell bent on the annihilation of the human race. They’ll be better equipped, better trained, there will be a lot of them, and I’ve heard horror stories about the higher ups in the group. Need I bring up the train again?”

“Train? What train?” Sun asked confused.

“We’ll tell you later,” Taiyang said shaking his head, “So, what? You think we can’t do it?”

“Not without getting hurt or killed in the process. We’ll need to minimize the dangers as much as possible.” Summer walked to the bookcase near the window and picked up her scroll, flicking it open. “We’ll need backup.”

“That’s a first,” Qrow said turning around as Summer dialed a number, “who do you have in mind?”

* * *

_“I’m a bad dream! I’m a rad scene! I’m a tad mean! But I’m not afraid to take you out!”_

_‘I swear, the city had better be on fire or something and we’re the only ones who can save it,’_ Coco thought digging her way out of her bedsheets to glare at her ringing scroll and reached to pick it up, _‘otherwise someone dies.’_ She opened it to see who was calling and glared even harder at the picture of Summer. _‘Yep, I’m going to murder her later,’_ she thought finally answering it, cutting the song off, and pressing it to her ear. “I hope you’re ready to die Summer. You have any idea how late it is?”

 _“Yeah I’m sorry about this Coco, but this is kind of important,”_ Summer said.

“That’s for me to decide if it’s ‘important’. So do you want your death quick or painful?”

 _“Very funny Coco. Straight to the point, I need your help with a job.”_ Coco blinked and quietly sat up into a more comfortable position.

“ _You_ need _our_ help with something?” Coco asked as the lights suddenly turned on thanks to Yatsuhashi. Coco mouthed a quick ‘sorry’ to him and he nodded in response before going to sit on his bed, Fox doing the same on his while the angry ball of bedsheets that was Velvet curled tighter. “What exactly is going on for you to do that?”

_“Interested huh? You know about the Dust robberies?”_

“Who doesn’t?”

 _“Well my team is looking into that as sort of a personal project and we just got some info on a possible target for them. I’ll have to confirm it later, but that should be easy enough. If it_ is _true, then a large Schnee Freighter coming in a couple of days will be hit.”_

“Ok, and you need our help why?”

_“A Dust shop got hit earlier and the police investigating it think the White Fang are behind it.”_

“The White Fang?” The rustling of bedsheets drew Coco’s attention to see Velvet poking her head out of her den. With her whole team awake Coco threw her covers off her and started pacing around the room. “Why would they want to steal Dust?”

 _“No idea, but the police seem to be giving it serious consideration. If they_ do _show up when we’re staking that shipment out, that’s bad news.”_

“So you want a more combat oriented team on hand just in case.”

_“That’s the idea.”_

“Do you really think the Fang will show up?”

_“I think it’s a good idea to cover all the bases. If I’m wrong, I’ll compensate you guys and you’ll have a good laugh. If I’m right… well, you get to do your thing. So are you interested?”_

“I can’t make that decision by myself. One second,” Coco said and lowered the scroll to face her team.

“What’s going on?” Velvet asked.

“Summer is planning to stake out a Dust shipment that’s coming in a couple of days. She thinks it might get stolen and the White Fang will be the ones doing it,” Coco explained crossing her arms, “she wants us there for combat support.”

“She never asks for simple stuff from us, does she?” Fox asked sarcastically.

“The fact she’s asking us for help at all means she must be serious,” Yatsuhashi said, “Does she know for sure?”

Coco shrugged and said, “She said the police are being serious about that. What do you all think?”

“I think we should look into it,” Velvet said digging herself out of her sheets, “even if the White Fang doesn’t show up, we can’t let that Dust get stolen. A wasted night of nothing happening is better than that.”

“Not like we were doing anything important anyway,” Fox said with a shrug. Yatsuhashi nodded silently and Coco smiled as she held her scroll up to her ear.

“Guess we’re in Summer,” she said.

 _“Awesome, you’re the best Coco!”_ Summer cheered, _“Get your rest and I’ll drop by tomorrow to explain my plan fully and maybe introduce our whistleblower to you if he sticks around. Sorry for waking you up so late again.”_

“Pay me back with coffee tomorrow.”

_“Done! I’ll see you tomorrow, good night!”_

“Night,” Coco replied, shut her scroll, and started walking to the light switch. “Alright guys, back to bed.”

* * *

Summer shut her scroll and pumped a fist in the air as she said, “Yes! That was easier than I thought it would be.”

“We could definitely do far worse than Coco’s team,” Taiyang nodded in agreement, “If the Fang do show up, they’ll probably regret it.”

“You’re ‘backup’ that good?” Sun asked.

“Coco’s team is the highest ranked combat oriented team in Beacon, us being a close second,” Qrow explained, “Trust us, when the bullets start flying you’ll want them around.”

“They sound like fun, I can’t wait to meet them.” Sun shrugged and added, “So… we’re good?”

“Yeah, we’re good,” Summer nodded and held her scroll up, “and give me your number so I can get in touch with you again.”

“Sure thing,” Sun said taking out and opening his scroll to exchange numbers with Summer. “I hope those guys do show up. I have more than a few things I want to say to them.”

“You know it’s better in the long run if nothing happens right?”

“Well yeah, but you know what I mean, right?”

“Yeah I do. There’s nothing more boring than a stakeout where nothing happens.” Summer nodded as she closed her scroll and tossed it up onto her bed. “But down time like that is perfect for playing AA.”

“Makes sense,” Sun nodded and put away his scroll as he walked over to the window and opened it. “Welp I’ll see you guys tomorrow!” he said as he jumped out onto the branch and started climbing down as Summer closed the window.

“Call me paranoid, but that all worked out a little _too_ well for us,” Qrow said sitting down on his bed, “With my luck, that usually means something bad will happen.”

“Even if it does, we’ll deal with it,” Taiyang said knocking his hand against the bedposts, “And how bad could it get?”

“Don’t say that.” The bathroom door opened and Raven walked out with a towel wrapped around her hair and another around her torso. “Hey Rae, you missed something big.”

“Oh did I?” Raven asked and started digging through a dresser for her clothes.

“That Faunus earlier stopped by and gave us a huge lead. CFVY will be helping us as well.”

“Oh that’s cool, you can tell me the whole thing while I get dressed. Where’s my pajamas?”


	20. The Docks Pt. 1

The docks of Vale weren’t entirely closed off to the public, like the pier Taiyang and several others were on that was usually opened for fishing unless the dock workers said otherwise. Taiyang stifled a yawn as he reeled his latest bite in and lifted it out of the water, sighing when he saw the size of the fish.

“Bad luck fishing Tai?” Taiyang glanced to his right at Summer and Coco walking to him as he took the fish off the hook.

“Pretty much,” he sighed out and tossed the fish back into the harbor and started to reline his pole. “What about you guys, did you have better luck?”

“More or less,” Coco answered stopping next to Taiyang and crossing her arms, Summer moving to his other side and sitting down with her legs dangling over the water edge. “Dock 21 has some fancy private security company guarding the place. They just so happen to be a trusted firm with a good contract with the Schnee Dust Company.”

“So that freighter will be showing up there?” Taiyang asked and cast his line out.

“Most likely, but we’ll have to see when the time comes,” Summer said and pointed at Taiyang’s line, “Steer your rod toward the fish.”

“Thank you Summer, but I know how to fish.”

“What are you even hoping to catch here?” Coco asked.

“Anything bigger than six inches would be wonderful right now.”

“Wow, your luck’s that bad right now huh?”

“And Qrow isn’t even here right now.” Coco chuckled at that and moved around Taiyang to stand next to Summer.

“That reminds me, I still haven’t met your little whistleblower Summer. Is that going to happen anytime soon?”

“I’ve been trying to call him but he won’t pick up,” Summer answered crossing her arms, “Not that I’m surprised all that much. Sun seems like he marches to the beat of his own drum.”

“No wonder he fits right in with us,” Taiyang commented and started to reel in his line.

“Right? But don’t worry Coco, I’m sure you’ll meet him soon.” Summer looked at Coco, who was now looking behind them up at the roof of one of the nearby warehouses with one hand on her handbag. Summer followed where she was looking and flattened her gaze when she saw a familiar mop of blonde hair on the roof waving casually at them. “Like right now because Sun thinks that he’s clever hiding on a roof!” Summer added standing up and making sure she spoke loud enough for Sun to hear.

Taiyang glanced back from his pole long enough to see Sun shrug in response and jump off the roof, doing a front flip and landing in a crouch before standing up and walking to them with his arms behind his head. Taiyang returned his attention to his pole as Sun said, “Hey guys! Sorry about ignoring your calls, I was doing some last minute recon you know?”

“Funny, that’s why we’re here too,” Summer replied rolling her eyes.

“Nice, great minds think alike!” Sun said giving Summer finger guns, which didn’t help her with her eye rolling problem, and walked up to Coco who was now starting to relax. “I don’t think I met you yet. The name’s Sun, I’m helping out with the ‘secret mission’,” Sun said holding a hand out to Coco, who took it after a second and shook it.

“Coco Adel,” she said and took her hand back, “so you’re Summer’s whistleblower? How did you two end up meeting?”

“Chance meeting followed by a fast chase through the streets. She is persistent when she wants to be.” Coco looked at Summer, who sighed and pinched her nose at Sun’s answer.

“It’s a long story,” Summer said.

“When isn’t it? You guys can make a milk run into a five hour affair to take down a pick-pocket ring,” Coco joked and turned back to Sun, “In any case, it’s nice to meet you. I’ll introduce you to the rest of my team later when they’re done shopping.”

“Shopping? For what?” Sun asked.

“Snacks, Dust, bullets, anything I think we’d need really. Which reminds me, how long do you think this is going to take Summer?”

“We’re going to stay until someone comes to pick up the Dust legally, which could take anywhere from a few hours to all night,” Summer answered.

“And with our luck it’ll probably be the later,” Taiyang said as he pulled up his hook and sighed at it, “dammit the fish slipped right off.”

“Did you try baiting it?” Sun asked.

“STUNNING! Baiting the hook, why didn’t I think of that!? Maybe I should bait it with _you_ Sun, SEE IF THE FISH LIKE THE TASTE BETTER!” Taiyang shouted angrily before going back to baiting his hook and casting it out again.

“Just trying to help.”

“Bait aside, you said you were doing recon?” Summer asked, “Did you happen to notice anything?”

“There are some fancy suits at one of the docks. Um… 21 I think.”

“That’s most likely the dock we’re going to focus on. Can you do me a solid and sketch out a map of that dockyard, rooftops included. If you can, try to mark the roofs with a good view of the whole yard on the map.”

“Sure thing. Got a pen?” Coco reached into her handbag, pulled out a pen, and held it out to Sun. He took it, gave the girls a two fingered salute, and took off into the docks again.

“While he’s doing that, let’s go check on that dock again,” Summer said to Coco, “I want to try talking to one of the guys there. I still got some clout with the police after last year, so that might help.”

“I don’t think they’ll be in a talking mood, but it couldn’t hurt to try,” Coco nodded and looked at Taiyang, “What about you Tai, you wanna come?”

“I’ll keep fishing thank you, I hardly ever get a chance to do this nowadays.” Coco shrugged at Taiyang’s response and started walking away with Summer.

“So, just between us, do you think something will actually happen?” Coco asked adjusting her sunglasses.

“It would be better if nothing did happen, even if it would be boring,” Summer answered with a sigh. “Honestly, I hope nothing happens, because I’m afraid of what we would find if something does you know?”

“We’ll deal with whatever happens, I’m sure it won’t be that difficult. I’ll make some extra coffee for tonight just in case.”

“Now that’s a motivator.”

* * *

Neo was not having a good day, though when you’re on the mend from a particularly bad injury it’s hard to have a good day. She spent her time recently lying in bed in the makeshift infirmary of the warehouse and stewing over what happened, anything to keep her mind off her wounds. It was during one of those times that Roman came to check on her.

“Hey kiddo, how are you doing?” he asked walking over to her bedside, his cane in one hand and a bowl of Neo’s favorite ice cream in the other. Roman’s question was answered by a _very_ harsh glare from Neo that drew a chuckle from Roman. “Well enough that you hate that nickname again. Good, that’s very good.” Roman set the bowl down on the bedside table and grabbed a metal folding chair with his cane and dragged it closer to the bedside. He sat down on it, resting his weight against his cane, and asked, “So, how are you feeling?”

Neo rolled her eyes at the question and tried to sit up, which ended as she expected as pain shot through her abdomen and forced her back into lying down with a hiss. Now that she thought about it the bandages would probably need to be changed again soon.

“Still bad huh? Well, nothing for it other than to let you heal up. Rest, eat your fill, all that good stuff.” Roman stood up and started to inspect his cane as he added, “I guess I’ll take care of the freighter tomorrow by myself. Actually… has he contacted you at all? You two were kinda, sorta friends right?”

Neo knew who Roman meant and bitterly shook her head no.

“Hm, too bad. I guess he was serious about cutting ties. Oh well, I guess some of those White Fang mutts will have to make do. That actually reminds me of something; those masked thieves from the other night, one of them could teleport and fought with a dagger right?” Neo nodded. “When she did, did she happen to leave behind a trail of flower petals?” Neo nodded again and quirked an eyebrow curiously as Roman rubbed his chin. “That’s… no good. Not at all.”

Roman noticed Neo’s look and shrugged lightly, “Oh it just reminds me of that squirt Huntress from a couple months back, same ability and everything. If that was her, then hopefully you managed to dissuade her from interfering further. I’ll keep an eye open just in case though.” Roman tapped his hat lightly with his cane and started walking away as he said, “Well, get your rest Neo. I’ll need you in fighting form again soon enough.”

Neo nodded in response, even though Roman couldn’t see it, and slowly brought the ice cream bowl to her. She slowly started to eat, feeling just slightly better with every bite, at least until she saw Roman talking to one of those black eyed Heralds at the door.

 **“Still on the mend, is she?”** she asked in that smarmy, reverbed voice.

“It’s only been a couple of days,” Roman replied seriously and waved his cane vaguely in the air, “so leave her alone. I’ll handle the docks by myself. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have preparations to make.” The herald let Roman step away and watched him walk away for a moment before laughing softly.

 **“Pride before the fall, Torchwick,”** she said and looked down at her hand, wiggling her fingers, **“but you do you. This one has done quite well serving me recently. She has one last thing to do before retirement.”** The herald lowered her hand and glanced at Neo, holding a finger to her lips as she grabbed the doorknob. **“Our little secret, ok?”** she added and shut the door. Neo simply huffed in annoyance and took another bite of ice cream.

* * *

Sunday, the day the freighter was supposed to come into port, had finally arrived and Velvet was taking pictures with her team and Sun in the city.

“And done! Thanks for the photo Sun,” Velvet said when she was done taking pictures and grabbed the box at her side.

“No problem,” Sun said as he folded up and put away his staff, “but why did you need pictures of all our weapons?”

“It’s how I fight,” Velvet answered putting her camera inside the box, checking one last thing inside it before closing it and moving it behind her. “Granted I’ve been having a couple of problems with it recently, but I think I got the power problem under control… more or less.”

“So what’s the main problem this time?” Fox asked.

“Dust consumption. I’m going to have to figure _that_ one out when I have more free time, but I’m pretty sure if I use it sparingly it shouldn’t be a problem. Generously, I can do three.”

“Then keep it at three and at your discretion,” Coco said crossing her arms, “but if you can get away without using it then do that. Assuming something actually happens that is.”

“Got it.”

“You guys are saying a lot of things that aren’t making sense to me,” Sun said scratching his head and looked at Yatsuhashi to ask, “Is it always like this?”

“More or less,” Yatsuhashi shrugged.

“…Awesome. I’m loving everything about you guys, seriously.”

“You’re a very laid back guy, aren’t you Sun?” Coco asked.

“I like to think it’s one of my best qualities,” Sun said grinning and crossing his arms behind his head, “So are you not going to tell me how you fight Velvet?”

“Tell you what Sun, if you’re lucky you’ll see it for yourself. Think of it as something to look forward to.”

“Sweet.”

“You guys look like you’re having fun.” Sun and CFVY looked at the approaching Team STRQ, all in their combat outfits, and they exchanged waves as they gathered up. “Or has Sun been annoying you while you were waiting?” Summer asked.

“Hey!”

“Not really, Velvet was just using the time to get some quick pictures,” Coco said turning fully to Summer, “We’ve actually been waiting on _you_. Where have you been?”

“Raven was being stubborn and wouldn’t wake up,” Taiyang said glancing at Raven, who simply shrugged in response.

“That I can believe,” Coco nodded as Summer waved her team forward and the group started walking through the streets with her and Coco at the front. “So what’s the plan today, hang out in the city or go to the docks now to check on the ship?”

“The freighter isn’t supposed to be here until late afternoon and they’ll probably finish unloading the cargo in the middle of the night,” Summer replied crossing her arms, “so we should move in during the unloading. We’ll set up the Circle of Confusion and keep an eye out during that time. Finger’s crossed nothing happens, but it’s going to be a long night regardless.”

“I hate that name,” Taiyang complained and pinched his nose.

“For the last time, we’re not calling it the Rhombus of Terror! I chose the name, that’s what we’re sticking with.”

“But it’s not even a circle!”

“Oh god, shut up!” Coco interrupted pinching her nose under her sunglasses, “What matters is that we get this done, right?”

“Thank you!” Qrow agreed.

“I really like you guys,” Sun said with a chuckle. “I think I’m really going to like my time here.”

“Give it another week, and I think you’ll change your mind,” Velvet said shaking her head.

“And I think Raven’s hair looks wonderful today!”

“FINALLY someone noticed!” Raven said loudly and started stroking her hair, “I’ve been using a new conditioner lately but nobody noticed… wait, _WHAT THE SHIT!?”_ Raven, and everyone else, turned around once they realized the new voice didn’t belong to anyone else in their group and saw it belonged to none other than Penny, happily trotting along behind them.

“Salutations friends! I hope you all are doing well today!” Penny said looking over the group.

“Penny? Where did you come from?” Summer asked walking up to the redhead.

“I was following a cat through the streets when I saw you all walking together, so I came to see you all! Are you having a nice day?”

“Uh…”

“So Summer,” Coco said with a smirk and adjusting her sunglasses, “are you going to introduce us to your new friend?”

“That sounds wonderful!” Penny agreed and looked at Summer expectantly, who looked back in confusion for a moment before sighing.

“Right… everyone, this is Penny Polendina. I ran into her the other day and… I guess hit it off.”

“Literally,” Raven interrupted with her own smirk, “she _literally_ ran into her.”

“Yes, thank you Raven,” Summer said rolling her eyes and trying to ignore CFVY’s giggles. “Anyway, Penny, for the ones you haven’t already met there’s Sun Wukong, who I was chasing when I met you.”

“Sup!” Sun waved.

“Oh, you found him and you’re already friends! You’re really good at that Summer!” Penny complimented excitedly.

“N-not really,” Summer said looking away from Penny’s sparkling eyes. “Anyway, lastly that’s Team CFVY, my team’s kinda sorta rivals in the academy.”

“Kinda sorta nothing,” Coco said shaking her head before walking up to Penny and pointing out her team, “I’m Coco, and that’s Velvet, Fox, and Yatsuhashi. Don’t worry, we’re all far nicer than we look.”

“Hey…” Velvet complained.

“Such cool names. It’s a pleasure to meet all of you!” Penny held her hand out to Coco, who took and shook it even if she flinched a little at Penny’s strength. Handshake done, Penny turned back to Summer not noticing Coco shake her hand and asked, “So what are we doing today Summer? Are we having lunch again?”

“Um, no Penny. I’m a little busy today, so I can’t hang out with you today,” Summer said, “We’ll do something some other time.”

“Why?”

“Because I already have plans with everyone else.”

“What are they?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why?”

“Because… it’s classified.”

“As what?”

“As something _I can’t tell you!”_

“Why?”

“I’ve only known this girl for a few minutes and I already love her,” Coco said with a chuckle, “and she’s cute too.”

“Of course you’d think that,” Fox said shaking his head along with Yatsuhashi while Velvet rolled her eyes.

“Look, Penny,” Summer said pinching her nose, “what I’m doing may be dangerous and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Are you expecting a fight? Because I already told you I can fight.”

“Wait, you can?” Velvet asked surprised.

“Mhmm. I’m-“

“NO! No catchphrases!” Raven interrupted angrily, stopping Penny mid salute.

“…Ok. But I can fight. You don’t have to worry about me at all!” Summer stared at Penny, who stared back with pleading puppy dog eyes, and finally turned to the group stiffly.

“Tai, can you show Penny funny pictures? I need to talk to Coco real quick.”

“Sure,” Taiyang nodded and pulled out his scroll, “hey Penny, want to see my dog? Zwei is really cute.”

“Really!? Dogs _are_ cute!” Penny said and zipped over to Taiyang’s side excitedly while Summer walked over and tugged Coco away from the group.

 _“I don’t want to bring her along. I’m not joking when I said this could get dangerous,”_ Summer whispered to her.

 _“But she said she can fight right? If it’s as bad as you say, why not accept the extra help?”_ Coco asked in a whisper.

 _“I only have her word to go on that._ Anyone _can say they can fight without giving away their actual skill. Case in point, Jaune.”_

_“Ok, fair point.”_

_“Besides, I don’t want to involve people who don’t need to be involved. If she comes along and gets hurt, that’s on me especially if it could have been avoided.”_

_“Ok ok, but I’d feel bad just sending her away.”_ Coco looked behind her at Penny, who was staring wide eyed as Taiyang scrolled through the pictures on his scroll. _“She seems like the type to take that kind of thing_ very _badly.”_

 _“Yeah.”_ Summer put a hand over her mouth in though before snapping her fingers and gave Coco a toothy grin. _“I have an idea. Just follow my lead.”_ Coco raised an eyebrow at that but nodded in agreement. The two leaders rejoined the group and Summer clapped her hands to get Penny’s attention. “We’re done. And you know what Penny, you _can_ help us out!”

“What?” Coco asked.

“What!?” Raven said forcefully.

“I can!?” Penny said excitedly and rushed to Summer and grabbed her hands, “Fabulous! What can I do?”

“Well Penny,” Summer started taking her hands away from Penny and wrapping an arm around the girl’s shoulder, “All of us are going to be doing something _very important_ later, and important things need a lot of preparation right?”

“Of course!”

“Right, but wouldn’t you know it,” Summer snapped her fingers, “I only just now realized we forgot to get some _very important_ supplies! And I don’t think we have the time to find those now!”

“We did?” Velvet asked looking at Yatsuhashi who shrugged.

“That’s awful!” Penny said pulling away from Summer and spinning around to face her, “You really need to make sure you’re better prepared!”

“Which is why,” Summer clapped her hands together and pointed them at Penny, “ _you_ being here is exactly the boon we needed! You can go find those supplies and get them to us while we get everything else started! Can you?”

Penny stood there, mouth slightly open in thought, before nodding and pumping her fists in front of her, “Of course I can! I used to do shopping trips for my father all the time!”

“That’s perfect! Now I need you to take this Lien,” Summer said taking a Lien card out and putting it in Penny’s hands, looking serious for a brief moment as she said, “Don’t worry about paying me back, seriously.” She switched back to a happy expression as she continued, “Take that Lien, go to every single shop you can find, and get me some Elbow Grease!”

 _“Ah, I get it,”_ Coco whispered and shared a grin with Raven and Qrow.

“Elbow Grease?” Penny repeated in confusion, “But isn’t that just a colloquial term for hard work with your hands?”

“Yes it is, but it’s also a very old brand of weapon polish,” Summer explained. “Like the ads used to say, ‘a bit of Elbow Grease will make any weapon shine!’ It’s so old in fact that the company that made it actually went out of business years before any of us were born, but if you look in novelty shops you’re sure to find a can somewhere. You… _have_ heard of it, right?”

“…Not in the slightest,” Penny answered shaking her head, “but I trust you! Don’t worry friend, I’ll find it!”

“Oh I’m sure you’ll find it,” Coco added, once again glad her sunglasses hid her eyes as she glanced away from Penny, “It’s well worth it too. My… grandfather used it all the time and it worked wonders.”

“See, so I’m counting on you Penny.”

“But… where do I find you when I found it?”

“Tell you what Penny, I’ll give you my number so you can call me when you found it. Not a moment before though, got it?” Summer said pulling out her scroll.

“Understood.” Penny took out her own scroll and exchanged numbers with Summer. When that was done she put it away and gave Summer a salute. “Well, I’m off to get those supplies!”

“While you’re out, get some headlight fluid too,” Raven said failing to hide her smirk.

“…Ok, but why?”

“It’s a secret Penny,” Qrow answered, “but _very_ important to what we’re doing!”

“Elbow Grease and… headlight fluid… I understand! I’ll return soon!” Penny gave another salute before setting her face in determination and turning and running down the street, her arms stiffly behind her, and disappeared around a corner. Summer nodded and turned to the group.

“Well that should keep her busy for a few hours,” she said with a nod.

“I feel kind of bad tricking her like that,” Yatsuhashi said staring at the corner Penny went around, “Will she be alright?”

“She’ll be fine,” Sun said waving a hand, “We pulled the same trick on Scarlet a couple of times and he turned out fine. Angry, but fine.”

“Besides, by the time she realizes what happened, we’ll be done at the docks one way or another,” Summer added.

“Are you sure?” Taiyang asked, “She is the same girl who didn’t know what a mango was.”

 _“She’ll be fine!_ ” Summer said through gritted teeth before sighing and started leading the group away. “Enough about that. Since it got brought up, let’s _actually_ make sure we have everything for tonight. You got enough Dust Velvet?”

“Yeah, I should be fine,” Velvet replied, “but can we get some drinks? Coco makes the coffee a little too strong.”

“Sure thing, I know how you get with coffee,” Coco replied with a nod.

* * *

The day passed by quickly and the group finished any preparations they needed, more than once running across Penny as she continued her snipe hunt with all the seriousness you’d expect from an Atlas citizen. Soon they converged on the docks, the SDC freighter already docked and unloading its cargo as they took positions on three different rooftops around the dock. It had been decided the day before during recon to split into groups of three on each one: Summer, Coco, and Sun on the northernmost roof, Qrow, Raven, and Fox on the southernmost, and Taiyang, Velvet, and Yatsuhashi on the last one to the east directly facing the waterfront. They settled in and watched as the dock workers and private security worked their respective jobs.

And they waited when they were done and the dock workers left for the night hours later.

And waited when the security left, which was very suspicious to them.

At around 9:30, Sun was bored.

“Uuuuuuuuugh…” he groaned out lying on the roof staring up at the Shattered Moon. He turned his head to look at Summer and Coco, who was busy sharing a coffee thermos and passing the time with Amity Arena. “Has anything happened yet?”

“Nope,” Coco replied looking up from her scroll briefly, “the crates are still there and nobody is around. I’ll put some Deathstalkers here.”

“Oh you bitch,” Summer muttered and looked at Sun and added, “Welcome to the harsh reality of stake outs Sun. Nine times out of ten nothing will happen, and if something _does_ happen you won’t be ready for it.”

“Fantastic,” Sun muttered rolling onto his stomach and groaning in boredom.

“Sun, if you’re going to be like this all night, who don’t you go do something productive.”

“Yeah, good idea,” Sun agreed and pushed himself up to his feet and started walking away, “I’ll go steal some food.”

“Excuse me, steal?” Coco asked tipping her glasses down.

“And we already have snacks,” Summer added.

“I’m from Vacuo and I’m hungry. What do you want from me?” Sun asked holding his arms open.

“Well, since you’re offering,” Summer grinned and set her scroll down and pressed the earpiece in her ear. “Hey guys, Sun is making a food run. Anyone got a suggestion?”

“H-hey, I never said-“

 _“Sandwiches!”_ Velvet replied happily (and loudly) back and Coco couldn’t help but chuckle as she saw Velvet hold a fist in the air from her rooftop.

 _“Sandwiches do sound good right now, since we skipped dinner,”_ Fox agreed.

 _“Send him to Sam and Wade’s,”_ Raven added, _“They’re open late and their sandwiches are pretty good.”_

 _“I’m down for that,”_ Taiyang agreed followed by a chorus of similar agreements. Sun, having suddenly found himself the center of the situation, stared flatly at Summer and Coco as they grinned back at him.

“Don’t worry Sun, we’ll give you the money to cover it,” Summer said placatingly as the comms filled with people shouting their order.

“But we _will_ expect our change back,” Coco added.

“Well of course, that’s only natural.”

“Fine, fine,” Sun said and took out his scroll and pressed his earpiece down to add, “Hey idiots, shut up for a second! I can’t get everyone’s order if you’re all shouting! Now Raven, what do you want?”

“Actually, will you be ok paying for your team Coco?” Summer asked looking at Coco.

“Why, because of Velvet?” Coco asked in response and Summer nodded, “she’s actually been getting better about that. You remember that gelatin that Raven sold her?”

“Oh god, she was serious about that? I thought it was just a joke. Was it really 200 pounds?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t weigh it. I don’t have a reason to doubt Raven though. Anyway, surprise surprise, it turns out trying to eat almost double your body weight in gelatin isn’t good for you. She had a bad stomach ache for a good while and that curbed her appetite hard. I know I shouldn’t be happy about that but the savings to our food budget has been great for the last couple of weeks.”

 _“You know I can hear you, right Coco?”_ Velvet asked.

“Well I have the right to complain when half of our budget goes right to your stomach Velvet,” Coco replied vaguely glaring at Velvet’s direction.

_“Slander! It’s a quarter at most!”_

_“You’re missing the point Velvet,”_ Fox said over the comms.

“Ok, that’s almost it,” Sun said mostly to himself as he moved in front of Summer and Coco, “What do you want Summer?”

“Huh? Oh right, sandwiches. You’re going to Sam and Wade’s right?”

“Thanks for the reminder, where is that?”

“You’ve got a scroll, look it up.” Summer missed Sun’s eye roll when she closed her eyes in thought and nodded. “I’ll take a number 10 with no mayonnaise.”

“And I’ll have a 7 with extra jalapenos,” Coco said as she started digging through her handbag for her Lien. She glanced at Summer just kind of staring at her as she took out a card and added, “What, I can handle spicy stuff every now and then.”

“Considering your love of exotic coffee, not surprising,” Summer replied and held out a Lien card that Sun took along with Coco’s. “You sure you got everything Sun?”

“Yes _Mom_ , I got it all. I’ll be back in a bit.” Sun gave the girls a wave and dashed past them to the opposite edge of the roof and jumped off it with a flip.

“I give him crap, but it’s nice of him to do that after being put on the spot like he was.”

“True. Back on topic, who are you expecting to show up here if it isn’t the White Fang? Local criminals?”

“Yeah, specifically a man named Roman Torchwick.”

 _“Wasn’t he on the news a couple of months ago?”_ Yatsuhashi asked.

“Yeah I remember that. He was the guy with the bad hair and the tacky coat right?” Coco asked and Summer nodded. “Yeah I remember him. He tried to rob a Dust shop but was stopped by…” A lightbulb clicked on in Coco’s mind and she looked at Summer casually scratching her cheek and lowered her sunglasses to better stare at the girl.

“Yeah…” Summer said.

“Huntresses that chose to remain anonymous,” Coco finished and shook her head, “I should have known you were involved somehow.”

“It’s not like I try to get involved in criminal conspiracies every time I go out. That could have ended a whole lot worse if Glynda hadn’t shown up.”

“ _And_ you got to see Goodwitch in action? Lucky.” Coco pushed her glasses back up and asked, “So what makes you think he’s involved in this?”

“Tai and I got into a fight with an Ice Cream girl who was retrieving some of his stolen goods. That happening just days before a big Dust shipment was supposed to come in? Things are just… fitting together a little too well to be coincidence.” Summer sighed and scooted a little closer to the edge of the roof to look over the shipping containers. “I hope the White Fang doesn’t show up, that would complicate things way too much.”

“One way or the other, we’ll be able to handle it. So just relax a little, stress is bad for your skin.”

“I’ll try.”

“Want to go another round in AA?” Coco asked holding up her scroll.

“I’m good. I’ll just keep watch for a bit. You got a light though?”

“No. I thought you quit.”

“One a month or so is _not_ a habit.”

“That’s what they always say.”

* * *

“Um… maybe this will be better?” Velvet wondered to herself as she reordered the pictures she had taken earlier again. “How about this order: York and Soleil, Sun’s staff, and Omen. Do you guys think that’ll be a better order in a fight?”

“I think this is the third time you’ve reordered those pictures in the last half hour,” Taiyang answered looking at Velvet while Yatsuhashi stared intently on the shipyard. “You should relax a little, it’ll be alright.”

“I suppose,” Velvet said putting her camera away and sighing, “I guess I’m just anxious and going a little stir crazy. _Something_ should have happened by now.”

“That describes the majority of the last year of my life,” Taiyang said with a roll of his eyes, “Cop shows are nothing but lies when it comes to stakeouts.”

“True, I guess,” Velvet nodded and crossed her legs, “So who do you think will show up?”

 _“Heads up guys, sandwiches are here,”_ Qrow said over the comms.

“Oh, never mind that! Sandwiches!” Velvet started bouncing excitedly and shot a quick glare at Yatsuhashi when he chuckled a little. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” Yatsuhashi answered just as Sun jumped onto their roof with a plastic bag in hand and another on his tail.

“Sup losers?” he asked as he walked over and handed Velvet the bag in his hand. “There’s your food and everything is right. Checked it myself.”

“Thanks Sun!” Velvet said happily as she dug through the bag and Sun walked away and hopped off the rooftop onto a nearby light pole. He then leapt to another one and then onto the roof that Summer and Coco were on, the latter waving at him as he approached.

“So did I miss anything?” Sun asked moving the bag from his tail to his hand and started handing out sandwiches and change to both girls.

“Nope, still just as quiet as when you left,” Summer answered as she pocketed her change and unwrapped the sandwich. “I don’t like how this feels. The calm before the storm,” she added and took a bite.

“I feel the same way,” Coco agreed leaning forward to better look over the dock.

“Hopefully we can eat before anything happens,” Sun said sitting down next to Summer and holding up a sandwich, “this guy sounded good after all!”

 _“Heads up, we got an airship coming from the north!”_ Qrow said over the comms just as Summer, Coco, and Sun were blasted by a rush of air coming from an airship that passed over their heads. The searchlight of the airship ran along the dockyard, occasionally going over some of the group, but the pilot apparently didn’t actually notice them since the ship moved to land in an open space in the dock.

“Ugh, it’s always something,” Summer said reaching back to her pouch to pull out her binoculars.

“Tell me about it. It’s not going to stop me from eating,” Sun replied and took a bite of his dinner.

“Oh by all means,” Summer said holding her binoculars up to her eyes and taking another bite of her own sandwich. The airship, a Bullhead now that Summer got a better look at it, landed and the side doors opened to let out a group of people in white and black uniforms. They were all armed, either with sabers or firearms, and all of them had masks covering their faces. That, plus the occasional glimpse of horns or a tail poking through the uniforms, and the bright red insignia of an angry wolf head in front of three claw marks all but sealed their identities. “Shit, it is the White Fang.”

 _“I’d recognize those uniforms anywhere,”_ Velvet added, _“I’m going to start taking pictures.”_

“Alright, grab the tow cables!” One of the Fang shouted and several of the others moved to drag tow lines out from under the Bullhead.

“Looks like you were right on the money Sun,” Coco said.

“Guess so. Bunch of freaks,” Sun replied through a mouthful of sandwich.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Summer said lowering her binoculars and shaking her head, “The White Fang never needed this much Dust. And what about-“

“What is the hold up!?” Everyone, White Fang and Hunter, looked at the Bullhead as one Roman Torchwick walked out gesturing around the dock with his cane. “We’re not exactly the most inconspicuous group of criminals right now, so let’s pick up the pace!”

 _“Well there’s your answer Summer,”_ Raven said, _“you’re latest archnemesis is on stage."_

“But that makes even less sense!” Summer said lifting her binoculars back up and watched Roman walk down the airship’s ramp, “Why is he here with the White Fang? Why aren’t they lynching him? Something is going on here.”

“What else is new?” Coco asked and gestured with her sandwich, “The real question is how big it could possibly be to get those two to work together.”

“Big enough to be bad news.”

 _“I just got a picture of Torchwick and the White Fang together,”_ Velvet interrupted, _“That should help out with any investigative questions later.”_

 _“We’ve got another airship coming in too,”_ Yatsuhashi added, _“Just how many are coming?”_

 _“However many there are, we can handle them,”_ Taiyang said no doubt massaging his knuckles as a second Bullhead pulled over the dock and opened its side doors. The White Fang members that jumped out to the ground seemed to scurry away from the ship as fast as they could, their weapons half trained on the ship as much as anywhere else. _“What’s got them so spooked?”_

 _“Probably some kind of badass lieutenant or something. I know I get scared when Raven is in a bad mood,”_ Qrow said with a quiet chuckle.

 _“Oh fuck you Qrow! I’ll show you a bad mood!”_ Raven replied angrily.

 _“What is that?”_ Velvet asked focusing her camera on the interior of the Bullhead as it slowly moved to the door, _“There is someone in there, but I can’t quite-“_

Velvet’s unasked question was answered when that ‘someone’ fell out of the ship, did a front flip, and landed feet first cratering the pavement where it landed. All the hunters stopped what they were doing and focused on the sudden noise, Summer in particular focused on it with her binoculars just as it extended its arms.

Or rather, tentacles.

Summer’s eyes widened as it stood up, its tentacles wiggling around slightly, and slowly moved out of the crater. It was wearing a black kimono with red trim that only went down to its thighs, leaving its bone white skin exposed down to its feet, which undoubtedly made a lot of noise due to the wooden sandals. Summer barely had the time to take in the blades attached to the soles and moved back up to its head, taking in the long black hair and cat ears topping its head. It turned its face to look at something, decidedly female in looks, and Summer got a good look at the metal mask decorated to look like an Oni’s mouth that covered that covered the lower half of its face. More importantly she saw its eyes, almost entirely black save for its red pupils.

“Oh _shit!_ ” Summer muttered and barely managed to not drop her binoculars as she covered her mouth in shock.

“What the hell…” Sun started.

“-Is that?” Coco finished actually taking off her sunglasses. _‘I hope Velvet gets a picture of that.’_

 _“What’s going on?”_ Fox asked confused.

 _“Sum, is that what I think that is?”_ Qrow asked, the sheer weight of his words felt over the comms.

Summer, for her part, was on the verge of a full on panic attack at this sudden turn of events. She forced herself to take a deep breath and looked through her binoculars again. “Yeah, that’s a Creature of Grimm.” _‘A General of Grimm at that. Which one is that again? Hierophant? What’s it doing here?’_

 _“I’m sorry, what!?”_ Fox added.

“I’ve never seen a Grimm like _that!”_ Sun said pointing at it as it moved through the containers, any White Fang nearby scurrying away from it to somewhere else.

“Neither have I,” Summer said half truthfully. Seeing the real deal was so much different from just seeing a drawing of it on a computer.

“This changes things Sum. We have to move in now,” Coco said.

“What?” Summer asked looking at Coco as her eyes bored into hers and she pointed into the dockyard.

“It’s one thing to deal with criminals and the White Fang, but a Creature of Grimm is another entirely. We _cannot_ let that thing get out into the city! If someone sees it they’ll panic, and if they panic-“

“It’ll bring in more Grimm, I know,” Summer said shaking her head, “but we’d be going in blind on this. We have no idea what it’s capable of, and I don’t like the look of those tentacles.”

“When has that ever stopped you?”

“I never said it was stopping me, just that we need to be _very careful_ about this. We still need to worry about Roman and the White Fang as well.” Summer put away her binoculars and clasped her fingers in front of her to think things over while Hierophant moved out of view.

 _“We’re ready to move if you order it Summer,”_ Taiyang said seriously.

 _“Yeah. I want a stab at that bitch.”_ Raven added gripping the handle of her sword tightly. Coco and Sun glanced at Summer as she thought for a few more seconds until she nodded and pressed her earpiece.

“Everyone get ready and move to the battle positions we talked about. We’re moving in.” Summer stood up and started pointing at various points around the docks. “CFVY, Sun, I want you to focus on rounding up Torchwick and the Fang. Leave the Grimm to my team.”

“What, are you crazy!?” Coco asked standing up.

“Coco please, just trust me on this!” Summer and Coco stared at each other for a moment until Coco rolled her eyes and put on her sunglasses.

“Fine, but the moment we’re done we’re coming to help. Got that?”

“Got it,” Summer nodded and lifted her hood over her head as she looked at Sun, still eating his sandwich. He stopped mid-chew as their eyes met and he shrugged, ate the last of his sandwich in one bite, and gave her a thumbs up with both his hands. “Ok then, is everyone ready?” Summer asked and got a chorus of ‘yes’ over the comms along with a nod from Coco. “Alright, let’s move out. I’ll try and get closer to that Grimm to keep an eye on it. Go!”

With that everyone scattered to their respective places, Coco and Sun going in one direction together while Summer focused on a nearby stack of containers. She took a running jump and blinked over to them, landing in a crouch to minimize any noise she made, and rushed over to jump onto another stack of containers. Once there she moved to the edge in a crouch and carefully glanced over the edge to see Hierophant looking over a couple of White Fang attaching cables to a container. Summer lay down flatly and watched as Hierophant started walking to Torchwick shouting at another White Fang holding a spool of wire.

_‘Alright, why are you here?’_

* * *

“No no you idiot, this isn’t a leash! What good are you?” Roman asked beratingly to the White Fang member in front of him. Even though his face was blank to go with his mask, Roman could _feel_ the glare being shot his way from him and couldn’t help but smirk at it. At least until he back up suddenly, his face fearful. Roman, curious at the change of demeanor, turned around and damn near crapped himself when he saw Creature of Grimm walking toward him. As feminine as it was he still started to raise his cane to fire at it when one of its tentacles shot out and grabbed the cane, keeping the tip pointed at the ground.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” it said in a voice that sounded familiar to Roman, though the simple fact that a Grimm _talked_ was more than enough to render him frozen and speechless. It walked closer, the tentacle shortening as it did, and stopped next to Roman to lean forward to look the White Fang in the eye. “And he is right, it’s not a leash. Handle it carefully and attach it to one of the containers nice and _tight_. **NOW.** ” He nodded rapidly and ran away as fast as he could, which caused the Grimm to chuckle and look at Roman. “See, sometimes all you need is a little authority to get them to do what you want. Understand?”

“Uh… right,” Roman answered nodding dumbly. The Grimm let go of his cane and started walking away again, leaving Roman to stare at it for a moment. _‘It? She? Oh whatever.’_ “So um…” he started, which got the Grimm’s attention. He nearly flinched under its gaze as he continued, “Have we… met before?”

The Grimm blinked a couple of times before laughing and touching a tip of a tentacle to its mask. “Ah yes, pardon me. I forgot that every time we spoke before it was through one of my Heralds. I’m sure you remember _those_ times at least, like yesterday when you checked on your little dog?” Roman had to think for a moment before he realized what it meant and his face paled.

“You mean…”

“Yes Torchwick, the stories are true. My heralds are able to talk to me, and I in turn to them. I am the guardian of Menagerie and the Faunus. You however can call me Kuroshara.”

“O…kay…” Roman answered when she was done. _‘I wasn’t aware that they worshipped a Grimm. Imagine that.’_ “Well, if I had known someone like you was on the other end of those talks, I would have-“

“You would have what?” Kuroshara asked lowering her stance slightly, “You would have ‘been more respectful’? Pfah, I care more for results and not respect from lesser creatures like _you_.” She then straightened up and started walking again, her eyes closed and a tentacle held up to her mask as he laughed, “Besides, your crass attitude was a breath of fresh air for me. If only you knew the personalities I have to deal with.”

“I’ll… leave that to my imagination,” Roman said to himself as he tentatively followed Kuroshara. Along the way he saw a couple White Fang just standing around and shouted at them, “Get back to work you mutts! We’re not going to be alone for much longer!”

 _‘Cinder certainly knows how to pick them,’_ Kuroshara thought to herself even as the White Fang scurried at Roman’s words. She stopped in front of a container and broke the locks on it with a quick swipe of a tentacle before stabbing the door with both of them and forced it open. She walked in, Roman still a ways behind her and still radiating fear, and forced open one of the transport crates with her tentacles to inspect the Dust crystals encased safely in transport foam. She picked up a Burn crystal and walked out to hold it up to the light of a lamppost and smiled to herself.

“Leave it to the SDC to give only the best. ‘The finest of them all,’ right?” She casually tossed the crystal to Roman, who caught it and stowed it away in a pocket of his coat as he walked into the container to grab more. Kuroshara laughed and crossed her tentacles as she settled in to just soak up the negativity that Roman and the White Fang were giving off. _‘I owe Weiss first dibs on my next raid. And I suppose it wasn’t worth my time coming here myself. Still I should use this to-“_

She paused in her thoughts and her ears flicked around when she noticed something. There was the standard fear that everyone gave off whenever she showed up in person, but she let out a small “Hm…” when she felt small traces of other emotions: anxiousness, small specks of fear, and one particularly bottled up case of rage. She scrunched her eyes up so she could feel them out, finding them all spread out around the dockyard, but one in particular was very close by and slightly above her.

“I have a question for you,” Kuroshara asked after a moment and uncrossed her tentacles.

“What is it, I’m kind of in the middle of something here,” he replied looking up briefly from his rummaging.

“Do you happen to know what species of Faunus you brought here?” she asked opening her eyes and glancing over at Roman.

“Why the hell would I know that?”

“Humor me.”

“I don’t know, I maybe saw a warthog, a couple dogs, you if you count.”

“But no Rodentia?”

“Don’t know, don’t care. Why?”

“It’s funny, because I don’t recall you bringing any with you, and yet I still smell a rat.” The spike of fear when she said that felt great, if she were being honest.

Roman stopped his rummaging and grabbed his cane as he walked out looking around. “You mean…?”

“Oh yes. In fact, it’s right _THERE!”_ She shouted and stabbed a tentacle at the top of a nearby stack of containers. Just before it made contact a burst of white petals shot out from on top of it with a white cloaked girl at the top of the petals swinging her arms in a panic. Kuroshara swung her other tentacle at her only for her to shoot down to the ground in another burst of petals landing in a handstand. She pushed off the ground and flew backwards to land on her feet near the container stack and drew a dagger, which switched into a pistol as she drew and aimed at Kuroshara.

“Freeze!” the girl shouted. Kuroshara withdrew her tentacles, the sound of tearing metal filling the air as she did so, and took in the Huntress.

 _‘A white cloak? Is she the same Huntress Ruby talked about?’_ Kuroshara thought and smiled widely under her mask. _‘Interesting!’_

* * *

_“Summer!”_

_“She’s still alive Coco, she’ll be fine! Focus on getting in position!”_

_“The White Fang are closing in on her.”_

_“I’m changing course to help her.”_

_“…Fine. Don’t you dare die Summer!”_

Summer did her best to block out the chatter in her ear and keep her focus squarely on the General in front of her. Still, no matter how calm a face she tried to put on, there was no point in denying that she was terrified. It’s red eyes brought back memories of Summer’s close call with Death not even a few months ago. Fear wouldn’t keep her alive though, so Summer kept her breathing measured and her hands as steady as she could.

“Well hey there Squirt! Fancy seeing you here!” Roman said not at all helping Summer with her disposition as he walked into a better position, gesturing wildly with his cane. “You _really_ can’t stay out of my business, can you?”

“I like causing trouble,” Summer replied flitting her eyes briefly to Roman before returning to the Hierophant, “especially for people like you.”

 _“In position at your nine Summer,”_ Taiyang said over the comms.

“You know this girl Torchwick?” Hierophant asked looking at Roman, its body still poised and ready to attack if Summer moved at the wrong time.

“Oh she’s just some Huntress who’s been causing trouble for me for a while now,” Roman answered. Hierophant chuckled at the answer and looked back at Summer before lowering itself into a crouch.

“So you’re the one who hurt his dog? I can’t help but applaud the effort, detrimental as it is to me.”

“So the Ice Cream girl was one of your underlings, huh Torchwick?” Summer asked.

“Oh, Neo would be _angry_ to hear you say that Squirt,” Roman replied waving an index finger in a ‘no-no’ manner.

“Thanks for the name. I’ll be sure not to use it from now on.”

_“Fox here, ready.”_

_“Velvet is ret to go!”_

“Hide behind false bravado all you want Huntress,” Hierophant said standing up as White Fang soldiers finally started coming into the area. It spread its tentacles out wide and continued, “I can feel the fear coming off of you as thick as any incense. You are well aware of how bad the situation is for you, and I’m just _eating it all up!”_

 _‘Freak,’_ Summer thought narrowing her eyes at the Grimm as Qrow gave his ready call, somewhere out to Summer’s right. Summer took a second to glance around at all the White Fang soldiers surrounding her, their sabers and stock pistols and SMGs at the ready. She returned her gaze to Hierophant just as a flash of red jumped onto the container stack behind it and Roman.

 _“I’m here Sum. I’ll hop in if things go sideways,”_ Raven said not a second after. Hierophant’s cat ears twitched a little and it laughed to itself as it closed its eyes.

“Well Squirt, as fun as this reunion was,” Roman said walking forward and aiming his cane at Summer, “I have places to go and Dust to steal. So why don’t we just end this now?” No sooner had the end of his cane popped open did Raven jump down from her stack of containers and landed behind Roman. She delivered a swift kick to the back of his knee, which knocked him to his knees to his surprise, grabbed the collar of his coat, and yanked him backwards as she pressed the edge of her sword to his throat. “For fucks sake!”

“How about you put that down before you get a new hole somewhere bad, hm?” Raven said pulling on Roman’s coat a little more and forcing him back onto his feet.

“And there’s the other one,” Hierophant said and turned to Raven along with a few of the White Fang soldiers. It opened her eyes and waved a tip of a tentacle scoldingly as it added, “You’re not very smart, are you? I’ll give you an A for dramatic timing though.”

“Nice that this is so entertaining for you!” Roman said angrily as Raven moved to grab his free arm and force it behind his back, giving a small yelp of pain.

“It very much is to me. Now drop the weapon!” Raven growled out and pressed her sword harder against Roman’s throat.

“Alright, easy easy,” Roman said and aimed his cane away from Summer. Raven took the lull to look at Hierophant and really take it in, the Grimm doing the same thing if the way it looked at Raven said anything.

“Where… do I know you from?” it wondered aloud squinting at Raven.

_“Yatsuhashi, ready.”_

“Sorry bitch, we’ve never met before,” Raven replied and put a bit more pressure on Roman’s arm to keep him pacified. “I’d remember a face _that_ ugly.” Hierophant blinked at that and chuckled to itself again, a tentacle moving under its chin.

“Oh, so you’re the rageful one. I think I know where I know you from now. Not that it matters in the slightest.”

“You pricks just love to rattle on, don’t you?”

“Tell me about it,” Roman muttered only for Raven to twist his arm a little more eliciting a yipe of pain.

“I wasn’t talking to you! But since you have my attention, why don’t you explain why you’re working with the Fang?”

 _“We got more airships coming in!”_ Taiyang said suddenly, _“Thing are about to get really busy.”_

“It’s just a working partnership! If I could get away with doing what I need to without them, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”

“And that would be?”

“Secret,” Roman replied and flinched only a little when Raven pressed her sword harder against his neck.

“What does it matter if he tells you or not?” Hierophant asked in amusement as it crossed its tentacles. “You can kill him, there will be others. Stop us here, and we’ll just pop up somewhere else. You and your comrades can’t hope to make a dent in what we’re doing. That’s the beauty in the White Fang and the Faunus: We always get. Back. Up!”

 _“Raven’s right, it does like to ramble,”_ Coco chimed over the comms, her voice filled with annoyance, _“I’m ready to break this party up if you need it Sum.”_

 _‘Where the hell is Sun!?’_ Summer wondered as her arms ached from the tension. The roar of approaching airships started to fill the air and Summer knew that _someone_ had to fire the first shot soon if she didn’t want things to go bad. She almost scoffed as Hierophant stretched its tentacles out and did a small twirl.

“Don’t none of you worry though Huntresses. You’re deaths will serve a greater purpose, so take solace in that knowledge,” it said.

 _“We’ll see about that Hierophant,”_ Summer said, not realizing she had whispered it out until she saw Hierophant stop dead in its tracks with a twitch of its cat ears. It then ever so slowly turned to look at Summer with wide eyes.

“What… did you call me?” it asked flatly. Summer didn’t answer, opting instead to readjust her aim, and Hierophant glared angrily at her and turned fully to her. With her posture low and her tentacles held out wide, Hierophant screamed, “What did you call me Huntress!? **ANSWER ME!** ”

“…Coco, break it up,” Summer said.

 _“Gotcha,”_ Coco answered and the air was filled with the whine of Coco’s gun revving up. A second later the pavement started exploding from the gunfire. White Fang soldiers scattered under the hail if they weren’t thrown airborne from the shots exploding as they hit the ground. In the chaos of gunfire and surprised shouts, Hierophant calmly glanced in the direction of the gunfire and held up a tentacle to block it from hitting its head.

That was exactly the opening Summer had been hoping for and Blinked at the Grimm, knocking it back slightly. Summer quickly braced against its body and grabbed its hair to hold its head still as she pressed the Soleil’s barrel to its forehead and fired. She kept firing, the cracks from her pistol mixing into a cacophony with Coco’s deeper machine gun and Hierophant’s roars of anger as it tried to fight Summer off, until she clicked empty. She spun her gun back into a dagger and stabbed it into Hierophant’s throat, yelling at the exertion as she dragged it to split its throat open.

With a spray of black blood Summer pushed against Hierophant and jumped away from it with a flip. She took the surroundings in quickly once she landed and darted to her left where there was fewer White Fang. She Blinked past the soldiers that were there and turned around when she landed to see Hierophant as it recovered from her attack, let out a rage filled roar that sounded all too familiar to Summer, and charged at her. It bowled over any soldiers unfortunate enough to get in its way while Summer charged her Blink as much as she could in the little time she had and Blinked to her right. She moved just as Hierophant slammed into a container and continued the chase.

From her perch, Coco stopped firing and pressed her earpiece down. “Everyone move in now! Don’t let any escape if you can help it!” Coco shouted and watched as Qrow ran off to join Summer. She nodded and collapsed her minigun into her handbag and went to chase after a squad of White Fang with Fox.

“Well, that escalated quickly,” Roman said and smirked when he noticed Raven release her grip ever so slightly. “How about a bit more?” he asked and fired his cane, sending a very surprised Raven flying and sending a plume of flame into the sky.

* * *

Penny was in a dilemma, and only now she was realizing just how dire it was considering her promise.

“Summer never actually told me _where_ she was going tonight,” she said aloud and started tapping her chin in thought. “Did she… deliberately not tell me?” Penny thought on that for a second before shaking her head and smiling to herself. “That can’t be it. We’re friends! She probably just forgot is all. Like how Father forgets things all the time.”

Penny reached into her dress pocket and pulled out her scroll, about to open it before freezing in nervousness. “Should I call her? I haven’t actually done what she said I should do, but I do want to know where she is. Oh what to do?”

Her train of thought, along with several others around her, was interrupted by an explosion and a pillar of flame and smoke coming from the docks. While everyone else ran for their lives or called the police, Penny stared for a moment before nodding, putting away her scroll, and running toward the docks.

Summer could wait at least a few minutes longer.


	21. The Docks pt. 2

Raven twisted her body as she flew in the air, her aura dented from the surprise shot, and landed on her feet with her sword held at the ready. She saw that Roman had fired two more shots at her and, with just as many swipes, Raven batted the shots away from her and let the excess energy from the shots blast against the pavement before she darted away behind a container to rejoin her team. Roman ran after her, his cane held in front of him just in case, but found the lane Raven had run down empty.

“Come on ninja girl, where are you?” Roman muttered to himself as he walked, only to be interrupted a second later when something landed on his head, pushing his hat down slightly over his eyes. Roman adjusted his hat back and grabbed the object that hit him, finding it to be a banana peel, and threw it to the side. He looked up in time to immediately regret it as he took a kick to the face courtesy of Sun, who jumped off of Roman as he was falling and did a quick flip into a handstand and then another onto his feet.

“Leave her alone,” Sun said once he settled to a stop. Roman pushed himself to his feet just as an airship settled over the area, the blast of air pushing Sun’s hair and unbuttoned shirt around as he tapped a foot against the pavement. The side doors of the ship opened and a couple squads of White Fang soldiers jumped out and moved to surround Sun.

“Perfect, another one,” Roman muttered under his breath as he stood up and then, gesturing to the soldiers around him, said louder, “You’re not the brightest banana in the bunch, are you?” Sun simply settled into a fighting stance and made a ‘come get some’ gesture at Roman with a small smirk. Roman rolled his eyes at that and waved the White Fang forward.

They charged in a staggered group and the first one to reach Sun was immediately knocked back by a backfist from him, which Sun used the momentum from to launch into a spin and hit another soldier with his tail and a kick to his head. Sun continued the spin and switched his footing to kick another in the chest, sending her back leaving her sword spinning to the ground as she flew away. More were starting to converge on Sun though, so he reached to his waist and pulled out his staff and unfolded it fully so it smacked into a soldier’s face before he started doing proper crowd control.

While Sun was fighting a gunner squad of White Fang formed up to the side and aimed at him. “The second we get a clear shot, open fire,” one of them said double checking that her SMG was loaded.

“Yes ma’am. But damn is he kicking ass,” another replied flinching just a little when Sun slammed his staff into a soldier’s crotch and lifted him over his head and launched him away.

“Focus up! Just keep your distance and we’ll get him.”

“R-right!” That affirmation was followed immediately by the squad being tossed in the air when something slammed down right in the middle of them. When they all landed and more or less settled they struggled to move and see what knocked them over, finding a tan teenager in a green tunic just slinging a large sword over his shoulder standing in a miniature crater where they had just been standing.

“What the fu-“ one started to say and got a response from Yatsuhashi when he swung his sword at her, the flat of the blade hitting her chest and launching her into a container where she slumped over unconscious.

“Crap, open fire!” another shouted and started shooting at Yatsuhashi along with the ones who had managed to stand up. Yatsuhashi moved his sword and pushed as much of his Aura up as he could to shield himself from the bullets. He only needed to do this for a few second before he saw a brown blur hop from the top of some containers down onto the squad, failing to keep the small smile down as Velvet shouted and landed an axe kick on one of the soldier’s heads.

“What the-!?” one of them started to shout on seeing his comrade’s head get planted firmly in the pavement only to get his gun kicked into his face and his legs swept out from under him. One of his comrades tried to shoot Velvet, only for her to jump over the burst and wrap her legs around his neck before leaning back and throwing him backwards into a container. The last one tried to bash Velvet over the head with his gun, but Velvet dodged around it and grabbed his arm, drove her knee into his stomach, and adjusted her grip on his arm to more easily throw him at Yatsuhashi.

Yatsuhashi easily batted the soldier down with his sword, leaving him groaning in pain, and looked up at Velvet as she pointed at Sun as he was finishing with his fight. “Launch me!” Velvet shouted and ran at Yatsuhashi, who nodded and moved his sword behind him to grip it with both hands. Velvet jumped at him, bracing her hands against Yatsuhashi’s shoulders as she flipped over him and landed on his sword, and braced herself as he swung the sword forward and jumped at the apex of the swing, launching herself forward.

Sun, for his part, finished up his fight by slamming his staff down on the ground creating a small shockwave that knocked down a few of the remaining soldiers, which were knocked out afterwards by Sun spinning his legs around in a circle before rolling onto his feet. The lone soldier who wasn’t knocked down aimed his pistol at Sun only to immediately after get kicked in the chest by a high speed Velvet, which was followed by a hard roundhouse kick in the split second that Velvet hung in the air after impact that sent him spinning to the ground.

Velvet landed in a crouch and let out a breath just as Sun yelled out “Look out!” and jumped in front of Velvet spinning his staff to block a shot from Roman. She got back up to her feet and got into a fighting stance along with Sun while Torchwick continued to aim at them. “Not very sporting to shoot at someone’s back!”

“Whatever it takes to win kid!” Roman replied lightly shrugging before hearing shouts and gunfire to his left.

“Run, she’s coming!” one soldier shouted over the gunfire and stopped at the opening to the yard Roman was in.

“What are you mutts yelling about now!?” Roman shouted and squinted his eyes just as Coco rounded the corner, sauntering toward the White Fang like she was on a shopping trip rather than fighting. Roman rolled his eyes and aimed at Coco to fire a shot, which flew past the White Fang soldiers and was subsequently batted away by Coco with a quick swipe of her handbag. Roman raised an eyebrow while the soldiers looked at each other before aiming at Coco, who stopped, slid her sunglasses down, and let out a small ‘Humph,’ of laughter.

“Precious,” she said and pushed her glasses back up before unfolding her handbag into a minigun and aiming it at the White Fang, who were all staring wide eyed and backing away slowly as Coco revved up her gun. Roman had the good sense to roll to his right before Coco opened fire, unlike the White Fang soldiers who barely managed to get out of the way as Coco rinsed the area with gunfire save one who got his Aura knocked out with just two bullets. Coco stopped firing and lowered her smoking gun before looking up at the containers. “Fox, you’re up!”

Roman got to his feet in time to see a tanned redhead with bladed tonfa jumping down and engaging the White Fang, knocking out the one without Aura with a swift kick before moving on. He soon had his own problems when he heard a shout from his right and raised is cane in time to block a kick from Velvet. She kicked off of his cane and held both her arms out when she landed, which was followed by a bright blue light coming from behind her as Hard Light Dust copies of York and Soleil formed in her hands. She spun the dagger into a reverse hold and held the sword out toward Roman.

“…Ok,” was Roman’s response to that along with a raised eyebrow before he was forced on the defensive by a flurry of swipes from Velvet. He deflected a dagger strike and blocked one form the sword, which Velvet used to spin the dagger into a pistol and aim at Roman. He ducked and let the shot go over him before standing back up and taking a swing at Velvet, which she blocked and retaliated with pistol fire. This dance between the two of them continued with exchanged strikes and blocks and pistol shots from Velvet until she did an elaborate spin to stab at Roman, which he deflected easily with his cane and grabbed her rabbit ears with his free hand.

Velvet yelped in pain as Roman pulled on them and used them to slam her head down into his knee, her Aura flashing in response, and kicked her legs out from under her while still holding her ears to force her into a front flip and land on her back. The copied sword and dagger disappeared as Roman brought his cane down onto Velvet’s stomach, knocking the air out of her, before being kicked away by Sun. Roman repositioned himself and blocked a blow from Sun’s staff, though that was followed up by Sun splitting his staff in half which in turn transformed into two sets of shotgun nun-chucks that he started spinning. Roman started backing up as he blocked a shot from one set of nun-chucks and a blow from the other, over and over again until the shots formed a solid wall of red in between the two. Roman was so focused on blocking the gunfire that he didn’t notice until it was too late when Sun managed to knock Roman’s cane askew and jumped in a spin to land a double footed kick to Roman’s chest sending him flying backwards.

Roman landed roughly on his back and coughed as pushed himself up and looked around the yard. He took in Sun still spinning one of his nun-chucks along with Coco and Fox just finishing up with the White Fang soldiers they were fighting along with Yatsuhashi coming into the yard and Velvet underneath a crane holding a shipping container before he made a tactical decision. He stood up with a small “Nope,” and fired a shot at the crane, which knocked a line off the container and left the remaining lines groaning before they started snapping under the weight.

“Velvet!” Yatsuhashi shouted and started running to Velvet. Sun, on hearing this, looked back at Velvet and then up at the container and dropped his weapons before running at Velvet as she slowly got to her feet. He jumped and knocked her out of the way just as the container finally broke free and fell, crashing on the ground right where Velvet had been a second ago. Yatsuhashi stopped with a sigh of relief when he saw Velvet was safe while Coco glared after Roman as he started running away down a lane between some containers.

 _“I’m on him!”_ Fox said and took off after Roman, who saw Fox chase after him and fired a shot at a container, knocking it into the air and crashing into the lane behind him. Fox only avoided getting crushed thanks to the rapid beeping of his ADA unit in his earpiece alerting him and forcing him into a quick stopping slide as it crashed in front of him. Fox stood back up and walked to the container, banging a fist against the metal a couple of times and focusing on Roman’s Aura that was already fading. _“I’m losing him!”_

“Damn,” Coco cursed and started tapping her fingers against her weapons handle before nodding and looking at Velvet walking out from behind the fallen container with Sun carrying her on his shoulder. “Velvet, are you ok?” she shouted at Velvet, which she responded with a couple of coughs and a thumbs up. “Good, go help STRQ with their Grimm problem if you can! The rest of us will lock this place down and hunt down Torchwick!”

“Are you sure?” Velvet shouted back.

“Yes, just be safe! Come on Fox!” Coco hefted her weapon and took off in a run with Fox right behind her. Velvet nodded to herself before pulling away from Sun, giving him a smile, and patting him on the shoulder.

“Thanks for the save,” she said and took a deep breath before running at Yatsuhashi.

“Anytime,” Sun shouted back and ran to collect his weapons and follow Coco and Fox. Velvet met Yatsuhashi’s eyes as she ran and he positioned his sword so Velvet could land on it and, with a bit of heft on his part, use it as a springboard to get on top of the containers. She maybe went a little higher than she had intended but still landed in a roll on top of a container before getting back up into a run.

 _‘With all this chaos the cops should be here soon,’_ Velvet wondered as she hopped from stack to stack, the distant roars of the Grimm guiding her path. _‘Let’s hope we can get this wrapped up before then.’_ One last jump to a stack and Velvet found herself overlooking the fight between STRQ and the Grimm, the latter swiftly alternating between using its tentacles to block shots from Qrow and fighting with Summer while Raven and Taiyang more or less doing their best to keep it boxed in where it was. _‘Yikes that thing is fast,’_ Velvet though backing up a few paces and hopping a little to ready herself, _‘Well, here goes!’_

Velvet charged and jumped off the stack, her eyes focused on the Grimm that had just pushed Summer back with sparks flying off her sword, and aimed a kick at its head. She landed it perfectly, its head jerking to the side when her boot connected with its cheek, and started spinning to land a follow up kick when one of the Grimm’s tentacles shot up and wrapped around her leg. Velvet yelped and put up her Aura in time to block most of the damage when the Grimm swung her into a container before whipping her back the other way and throwing her at Taiyang, who barely had time to call out her name before she crashed into him and knocked him backwards.

“More rats!” Hierophant muttered before flinching at a strike from Summer. It turned and shot a tentacle at Summer, who deflected it with her sword before trying to counter with an overhead strike that was blocked by both of Hierophant’s tentacles. Sparks flew between metal and Grimm scale as Hierophant slowly moved closer to Summer. “Answer me,” it demanded angrily, “What did you call me?”

“Dead meat!” Summer replied putting as much of her strength and Aura into her arms so they wouldn’t buckle under the General’s strength. She couldn’t have been more relieved when Raven jumped on Hierophant’s back and stabbed her sword in the back of its neck with a yell. Hierophant stumbled a little until it narrowed its eyes at Summer and slackened its tentacles to throw Summer off balance before moving the sword to the side and spinning around once to land a kick to Summer’s stomach.

The white cloaked Huntress went flying back, her Aura shining and barely missing Qrow, and tried to grab Raven only for her to brace a foot against the Grimm’s head and yank the sword out of its neck, tearing it open in a spray of black blood. Raven jumped off it in a spin and swung her sword to deflect the two tentacles that shot toward her, the second one shattering the blade, and landed with the sword’s handle already sheathed and replaced with a new blade. She glanced back at Qrow reloading his weapon and then back at Hierophant who turned to her with rage in every pore of its body and growled as the wound in its neck started closing up.

“Fucking annoying!” Raven growled and drew her sword, the blade blue with Ice dust, and held it in front of her as Hierophant walked to her and started to swing its tentacles at Raven. Raven parried the tentacles as they flew at her, her sharp eyes keeping an eye on where her sword hit them and how they reacted, until she found an opening and deflected a tentacle away from her and brought it down on it hard enough to break the blade and encase the tentacle in ice. Raven then sheathed her sword handle and drew an Electric Dust blade just as Hierophant stabbed at her with its unfrozen tentacle.

Raven deflected the tentacle down with her blade and stomped down on it, following up by spinning he sword and stabbing down into the tentacle. With a shout she dragged the blade up the arm, electricity crackling out of the wound, and finished with a jump as she ripped her sword out of it. The fabric of the kimono’s arm tore under the blade and Raven caught a quick glimpse of the General glaring at her while she slashed at its chest and shoulders before kicking it and flipping back away from it. Raven landed and quickly brought her sword up to block a tentacle that Hierophant swung as she spun around, hitting the blade and breaking it before sending Raven flying backwards into Summer. Both girls rolled to their feet in time to see Hierophant break the ice covering the one tentacle and start advancing to them just as Taiyang jumped and pushed off a container behind it to deliver a kick to its head.

“Goddammit, this isn’t working!” Qrow said slashing his weapon down angrily.

“You noticed too huh?” Raven asked looking down at her broken blade and forced it out of the handle before sheathing it again, “It’s just like with Strength all those years ago.”

“What do you mean?” Summer asked reloading Soleil now that she had the chance.

“When we fought her, we could hardly make a dent in the bitch,” Raven said drawing a green blade, “It wasn’t just that she was tough, but her wounds healed faster than we could make them.” Raven gestured at the fight in front of them as Velvet and Taiyang danced around the General’s tentacles. Velvet’s back glowed briefly as she formed a Hard Light replica of Sun’s staff and pushed on it with a few well-placed strikes to its legs and torso before having to dodge away from it as Hierophant kicked at her, the blade on her sandal passing inches away from Velvet as she flipped away. She landed on her feet and separated the staff into nun-chucks, using them to bat away a tentacle that shot at her and jumping on top of it in that instant.

Velvet started unloading Hard Light buck shot into the arm like Sun had done earlier and glanced up to see the second tentacle swing at her only to get grabbed by Taiyang. Hierophant struggled to pull its tentacles away from the Huntsman, with Velvet’s weight and Taiyang’s Semblance enhanced arms holding them in place, and growled when Taiyang smirked at it.

“Gotcha!” he shouted and charged at Hierophant, much to its surprise, and adjusted his grip so he was holding the base of the tentacle’s tip and stabbed at its stomach with the tip with a shout. With his Semblance enhancing his strength, it pushed through Hierophant’s stomach easily enough and out through its back, black blood shooting out both wounds and from under its mask. Taiyang then circled around the Grimm while it was reeling to its back and grabbed the tip again before pulling hard on it with a yell until it gave and pulled the tentacle about halfway through its stomach before he let go.

“Alright, I think we got it!” Taiyang cheered only for Velvet to be launched screaming onto a nearby stack and the tentacle that pierced through Hierophant started wiggling and receded through the hole as easily as it had went in. Hierophant turned to Taiyang with the wound already closing, black blood being replaced by white skin through the fabric of the kimono. “Oh crap, we don’t got it!” Taiyang shouted again and took a fighting stance just as Qrow rushed past him with Harbinger raised and slashed at Hierophant’s face.

“Case in point. It just heals too fast,” Raven said, her voice filled with irritation.

“We’re just wearing ourselves out if that’s the case,” Summer agreed drawing York, “I don’t think even CFVY’s firepower will be able to overpower it. The hell are we going to do?”

Raven didn’t get a chance to answer the question once they saw Hierophant jumped over Taiyang and Qrow and charged at her and Summer. The two backpedaled while swinging their swords to counter the Grimm’s tentacles as it swung at them until they had to dodge backwards to avoid a kick so it could focus on Taiyang and Qrow behind it. It stabbed a tentacle at Taiyang, who dodged to his left to avoid it, and followed up by sweeping it low to the ground. Taiyang got swept off his feet while Qrow got his legs wrapped up in the tentacle and was swung screaming at Raven and Summer.

Summer Blinked backwards to dodge Qrow, losing her footing and tripping backwards when she got out of it, while Raven simply ducked her brother. Qrow, thinking fast, unfolded Harbinger into a hook shape and stabbed the blade into a container as he swung near it, stopping the swing dead in its tracks even if he yelled from the pain of having his legs yanked. Raven stabbed the tentacle wrapped around Qrow’s legs, which let him go, and pulled a trigger on her sword to detach the blade and dodge away from Hierophant as it swiped a tentacle at her. Qrow yanked his weapon out of the container, Taiyang jumped to his feet, and Raven replaced her sword with an Earth Dust blade while Hierophant smashed the Plant blade into the ground where it shattered and growled as the three Huntsman readied for another charge.

Summer got up to her feet and was about to rejoin her teammates when she felt someone grab her cloak from behind and pull her behind a container. Summer reacted by switching her grip on her sword into a reverse hold, slamming her would be attacker back into a container, and spinning around to put the sword’s edge to their throat and Soleil’s barrel right between their eyes. Then she realized who it was and was suitably confused. “Penny?”

“Salutations Summer!” Penny said happily waving her left hand at Summer as if she wasn’t threatening her life. “What a coincidence meeting you here.” Summer blinked at the girl and took a step away from her lowering both of her weapons away from her.

“Penny, what are you doing here?” Summer asked.

“I saw the explosions and came to help. Is that why you’re here too?”

“What? No, not exactly. Look Penny, you need-“

“I’m really disappointed in you Summer,” Penny said, her expression changing to show that. It was odd seeing it without the usual cheer or curiosity.

“H-huh?”

“Elbow Grease doesn’t exist! You made that up so I wouldn’t come along on your secret mission. If you didn’t want me to come along you should have just said so!”

“Penny, I didn’t-“

“You’re lucky I did manage to find that Headlight Fluid that Raven was looking for. I got you two!” Penny added and held up a plastic shopping bag for Summer to see.

“…Excuse me?”

“See?” Penny asked reaching into the bag and pulling out a small plastic bottle and holding it out to Summer. Summer sheathed York and took the bottle to read the label aloud.

“’Gavvy Mcfree’s Headlight Fluid. For when you need that extra bit of shine. For ages 18 and up, do not use on motorcycles.’ This shit’s real!? And why is it grape flavored?”

“I don’t know, and that nice old Shopkeep that I bought it from didn’t feel like explaining. He did explain the whole ‘Elbow Grease’ thing though. He has quite the way with words.” Summer and Penny stared at each other for a moment until a crash from the next lane brought Summer back.

“Oh whatever!” Summer said and put the Headlight Fluid away in her pouch and pointed at Penny. “Look Penny, you need to leave now! This area’s dangerous and my team is barely keeping a lid on everything!”

“Why?” Penny asked as gunfire erupted from the next lane and she shimmied over to look down the lane. There she saw Raven and Velvet dancing around Hierophant’s tentacles while Qrow stopped firing at it so Taiyang could jump onto its back and try to choke it out. Penny’s eyes widened when she saw the Grimm and dropped the plastic bag on the ground.

“It doesn’t matter Penny! Just do what I say and _get out of here!_ ” Summer barked at Penny, only now noticing just how _focused_ she was. “Penny?”

“Primary target identified,” Penny said in the flattest tone Summer had heard from the girl.

“What?”

“Initiating Combat Mode.” At that Penny’s backpack, which Summer hadn’t noticed before due to how well it blended into her dress, opened up and released a multitude of black and green swords that unfolded and hung in the air behind her.

“Penny, what is-?” Summer started to ask only to stop when Penny looked back at her with a comforting smile.

“Don’t worry Summer,” she said and gave Summer a salute, “I’m combat ready!” Penny then rounded the corner and dashed away, Summer following in time to see Penny run at Hierophant as it was holding up Taiyang with a tentacle around his neck with Raven and Qrow just getting back up to their feet.

“This was fun while it lasted, but I’m growing tired of this game,” Hierophant said as it started choking Taiyang more, the blonde making gagging noises as he tried to pry the tentacle off of him. Hierophant leaned its face closer to Taiyang when one of Penny’s swords impaled its neck, eliciting a sound of surprise form the Grimm and loosening the tentacle enough for Taiyang to breath and kick away from the Grimm, adding a bit of his Semblance to it for good measure. Hierophant slammed into a container denting the metal, while Taiyang was caught by Raven and Qrow and started coughing once he was settled. Hierophant turned to look at the new combatant and got impaled by five more swords for its trouble.

Penny darted past Hierophant and spun her body before making a motion with her hands, the swords reacting and moved to the motions dragging Hierophant along with them and slammed it into another container. Penny pulled towards her, her swords pulling out of Hierophant and leaving it to stumble forward in a daze, before she spun again and delivered a kick to the Grimm’s chin that sent it skyward. With another motion Penny’s swords formed a circle and started spinning like a buzz saw as they got sent up and started digging into Hierophant’s chest. It stayed in the air for a moment, giving small grunts as the blades dug into it, before it started to fall and the swords retreated back to Penny. The redhead caught the Grimm by the neck before it hit the ground and reared a fist back and landing a solid punch to its face, sending it flying down an opening in the containers. Hierophant however landed on its feet, digging a trough in the pavement along the way, and shot a tentacle at Penny that wrapped around her midsection and dragged her along with her swords with a yelp of surprise.

In the brief lull, STRQ and Velvet could only stare at the opening they disappeared in before Raven shouted, “The fuck was that!?”

“An opening!” Summer shouted drawing York and running past them, “Catch your breath and follow when you can!” Summer then turned the corner to chase Penny and Hierophant, leaving her teammates and Velvet to sigh in frustration before Raven ran after her. She didn’t have far to go to catch up with Summer, who had stopped at the corner of a container to watch Penny trading blows with Hierophant while occasionally sending a sword out to knock out a soldier in a White Fang squad that wandered onto the fight.

“Well she’s a little ass kicker isn’t she?” Raven asked tapping Summer on the shoulder, “And you didn’t want her to come along.”

“Shut it Raven,” Summer said ejecting the magazine in Soleil to check the bullets, “how are you on blades?”

“I got plenty, don’t worry.” They looked back when they heard footsteps and saw Velvet run up to them with her camera in her hands.

“Forget what I had planned, I want _that!_ ” She practically squeed as she took pictures of Penny.

“Glad you’re enjoying yourself,” Raven said shaking her head at the Faunus.

“You only have one charge left right?” Summer asked.

“Yeah, but I think I can make this work. Oh _that’s_ a good one!” Velvet smiled widely as she fiddled with her camera before putting it away. “So what’s the plan for this?”

“I’ve been trying to figure that out,” Summer answered and looked at Penny’s fight. “I think I got something, but I’m still missing a few-“ Summer stopped when Hierophant managed to find an opening in the blades and landed a hit on Penny’s arm, the fabric of her dress flying through the air as she flinched back and brought her swords back up in a defensive shield as the tentacle retreated.

“Penny!” Summer shouted in worry and charged out toward Hierophant, spinning Soleil back into a dagger as it looked at her. It wasn’t able to get its guard up fast enough to block Summer as she Blinked toward it and stabbed York into its throat. It’s tentacles waved wildly as Summer pulled Soleil out and stabbed into its eye over and over until it managed to get ahold of Summer and throw her off. As Summer flew Raven zoomed past to stab Hierophant in the stomach and pull it out wide to spit open its stomach, causing black blood to spray out just as Velvet landed a flying double kick that sent it flying into a nearby crane, its head smacking into the frame before crashing to the ground.

Summer, having landed roughly but still managed to roll to her feet, ran to Penny as she held the wound on her arm. “Penny, are you hurt!?” she yelled full of worry and tried to see Penny’s arm, but she pulled away from Summer and hid it further.

“It’s just a scratch,” Penny said as Qrow and Taiyang joined them, the both of them taking fighting positions.

“Dammit, it’s getting back up again!” Qrow growled and pointed Harbinger at the Hierophant that was just getting back to its feet. Summer joined him in firing at the Grimm, its tentacles waving to block the bullets as it started walking to them.

“It’s damage resilience is much higher than anticipated,” Penny said as her swords flicked around behind her.

“Yeah no shit!” Raven said in annoyance and turned to Summer, “we can’t keep this up Sum.”

“Agreed,” Summer said shaking her head as she reloaded, “If we can’t do that, then our best bet is to hit it with an attack big enough that it _can’t_ heal from it. All these containers are filled with Dust, so if we bring one down on it and blow it up it _might_ do enough damage.”

“What do you mean _might_!?”

“And isn’t _saving_ the Dust the whole point of us being here?” Taiyang asked.

“You got a better fucking idea, I’d like to hear it!” Summer shouted as she finished reloading and started firing again.

“I can do that,” Penny stated.

“What?” Summer asked glancing at Penny as the gunfire stopped for a moment while Qrow reloaded. Thankfully Hierophant also stopped for a moment, apparently to get its bearings back.

“If you give me time and space to minimalize collateral damage, I can hit it with an attack strong enough to kill it,” Penny explained further looking at Hierophant.

“How do you-?” Raven started to ask only to shake her head, “Fuck it, I don’t care! If you can do it, then you can do it.”

“What exactly do you need to do that?” Summer asked.

“About 45 seconds to a minute to charge and a wide open space in a straight line to not hit anything important,” Penny answered.

“The main area of the dock is open,” Velvet added pointing in that direction, “and if she puts her back to the warehouse I was on you should have nothing but clear skies. What exactly are you going to do?”

“Classified.”

“Whatever, let’s give it a shot,” Summer said and pointed at Velvet, “Vel, take Penny where she needs to go. We’ll work on kiting it over there and keeping it distracted. Whatever happens, that _cannot_ find out what we’re doing! Go!” Velvet and Penny nodded and started running away from the group while Taiyang, Qrow, and Raven moved to engage Hierophant, with Raven darting in fast enough to land a hit on it before pulling back and getting it to follow her.

Summer, for her part, thought for a second longer before nodding to herself. “All hands on deck I guess.”

* * *

“I _really_ don’t like this guy,” Coco muttered to herself as she turned another corner of a container stack, her minigun at the ready, and found Fox doing what she had been doing as well. He straightened up when he sensed Coco and she relaxed as well and asked, “Any luck finding him?”

 _“No, I don’t have a good pin on him. His Aura is too broad for me to track,”_ Fox answered telepathically and Coco scowled just as Sun hopped down next to them and slung his staff over his shoulders.

“No luck either huh?” he asked shaking his head, “how can someone dressed like that just vanish into thin air?”

“Who knows? Let’s meet back up with Yatsuhashi and-“

 _“Everybody, change of plans!”_ Summer said through the comms suddenly, _“Regroup at the middle of the docks! We have a plan to take down this Grimm, but we need to keep it pinned there!”_

“What about Torchwick?” Coco asked already having an idea of what the answer would be.

_“Forget him! We’ll get him another time, but this Grimm is a priority now!”_

“…Got it, we’re on our way. You get that Yatsuhashi?”

 _“Already on my way,”_ Yatsuhashi answered. Coco folded up her gun and nodded at Fox and Sun as all three of them started running and jumped onto a container stack to regroup, none of them noticing Roman poking his head around a corner and breathing a sigh of relief.

“Way too close. At least that monster is good for something,” Roman muttered and looked at a nearby Dust container and up at one of the Bullheads that have been keeping overwatch from the air, “and depending on how this goes, I may have to bail. I won’t go empty handed though.”

Coco, Sun, and Fox hopped along on stacks, with Yatsuhashi running along with them on the other side of the yard, until they both came to a stop when they came up to the yard and saw Raven and Qrow dodging and deflecting the Grimm’s attacks while Taiyang stayed behind it to push it away from the lane he was guarding. Coco’s group came to a stop with Sun sinking into a crouch when Summer Blinked up to them, white petals dissipating as she stumbled towards them.

“Is this thing giving you that much trouble?” Coco asked pointing down at the Grimm.

“It can heal wounds,” Summer explained quickly.

“Seriously!?” Fox exclaimed in irritation.

“We already have an idea to deal with that. Velvet is helping Penny set up for that, we just need to keep it there and distracted enough so it doesn’t realize what we’re doing.”

“Penny? What is she doing here?” Coco asked.

“She just kind of wandered in here, but if she can help stop that thing then I won’t say no. We just have to help her out.”

“Easier said than done, right?” Coco asked sarcastically.

“Well, at the very least, it seems focused on people who attack it and it probably won’t leave until it kills us all. So there’s that.”

“Fantastic. Ok then, I’ll stand guard here. Sun, you go and hold down the next lane over.”

“Done,” Sun nodded and took off.

“Fox, you and Yatsuhashi help STRQ as much as you can.” Fox nodded and followed Summer down into the yard while Yatsuhashi got into position on his stack. Coco unfolded her weapon, more than likely running low on ammo by now, and pressed down on her earpiece to ask, “Velvet, are you and Penny in position yet?”

Near the warehouse that Velvet had originally been on top of, she and Penny had just come to a stop. Penny made a hand motion that caused four swords to shoot into the ground and the wall of the warehouse behind her. She then lowered her posture and held her hands in front of her while the rest of her swords moved into a circle in front of her, folding their shapes to look more like miniature rifles, and started spinning. Velvet watched all this go down before she answered Coco.

“Yes, we’re here Coco. I have _no idea_ what she’s doing but… it’s starting to glow,” Velvet said as a green light started growing in the middle of the circling swords.

“Charging initiated. 5%,” Penny said focusing intently on the Grimm.

“It may be a while.”

 _“Just guard her! We’ll keep the attention off you!”_ Summer said through the comms. Velvet looked out in time to see her and Fox charging at the Grimm just as Raven got knocked away. Summer jumped over her partner and Blinked at Hierophant, slashing York along its face, chipping off a piece of its mask, and flipping once to land and see it facing her, part of its teeth gritting in irritation as the wound closed. That distraction was enough for Fox to dash in and slash at Hierophant’s stomach with his blades.

Hierophant looked at Fox and swung a tentacle at him only for him to duck under it and kick at the back of its knee, causing it to crumple down so Fox could dodge to its front and fire three shots into its chest. Hierophant recovered and moved to support itself on a tentacle and kicked at Fox, who just barely managed to dodge back enough that the blade on its sandal missed his eyes by inches.

 _“She’s at twenty percent!”_ Velvet called out. Fox landed from the dodge and, after waiting a moment for Hierophant to get back on its feet, shot forward again to land a double punch to its stomach with a gunshot form both of his weapons providing an additional push to drive it backwards, Summer barely managing to dodge out of the way. Hierophant dug its feet into the pavement leaving troughs until it came to a stop and stood up straight. Its cat ears twitched as it heard a small grunt and dodged to the left to dodge a slash from Yatsuhashi, jumping to avoid the shockwave from his attack. It then heard another gunshot and glanced behind itself in time to see Qrow flying at it with his weapon unfolded completely into a scythe form and caught it in the blade, firing again to send them into a spin and fling it into the dock yard.

 _“Forty Five!”_ Velvet called.

Hierophant flew through the air and lashed a tentacle at the ground to control its spin and land on its feet with an irritated growl as Qrow and Yatsuhashi charged at it. Yatsuhashi swung at it twice horizontally, which Hierophant dodged away from and ducked under, jumping and spinning its body horizontally to avoid a double slash from both Qrow and Yatsuhashi. While in the air it saw Fox charging behind them and shot a tentacle out at him, wrapping around his leg and yanking him off balance as it landed.

Fox shouted at suddenly being knocked off balance and spun around to dig his blades into the pavement as Hierophant swung its tentacle and dragged him along the ground. Qrow jumped over the tentacle as it swung around itself, with Fox sending a trail of sparks along the way, until it made a complete circle and pulled its tentacle in enough to slam Fox into Yatsuhashi and the two of them into Qrow. It let go of Fox’s leg and watched the trio go flying and crashing into a pile further down the dock.

_“Sixty!”_

Hierophant started walking toward the pile of boys until its head was knocked askew from a bullet hitting its head, the deep gunshot echoing throughout the yard. It looked to its right to see Coco standing with her minigun revved.

“God you’re ugly,” She said out loud and hefted her gun up higher. Hierophant rolled its eyes before lowering its stance and raising its arms into a guard just as Coco started firing. She pushed as much of her Semblance into the hail of bullets as she could, very much intent on not letting go of the trigger until she ran out of rounds.

 _“Eighty!”_ Velvet called out while Raven and Summer watched Coco from the sidelines, both breathing heavily from the exertion and the drained Aura.

“I hope she finishes whatever she’s doing soon,” Raven said leaning against a container to catch her breath, “we can’t keep this up for much longer, I hate to admit.”

“It doesn’t matter if she’s done soon, she won’t be able to do anything if everyone’s in the way,” Summer replied looking between Hierophant and two Bullheads hanging in the air. Summer looked down at her pistol and ejected the magazine and pulled back on the slide to eject the bullet. She stashed the magazine and pulled out a new one while muttering, “Let’s go with Ice,” as she slipped it into place.

“What are you planning on doing?” Raven asked as Summer pulled back the slide to load the gun before she clicked a switch on Soleil to transform it into a dagger.

“Buying you time to get everyone out of the way. Have Sun help you too,” Summer said and started to dig into her pouch. “I’ll only be slightly mad if this stupid idea works.”

“Huh?”

Coco was so focused on the Grimm that it was almost a shock to her when she finally ran dry of ammunition. She felt the drain from her Semblance and sagged a little with a couple deep breaths as she watched the Grimm. It stood up straight and lowered its arms, any bullets that hit them falling to the ground while any wounds it bore on its body closed and healed. Coco met the Grimm’s eye and groaned when it smiled a toothy smile through its broken mask.

“Oh bullshit!” Coco lamented when Hierophant lashed out at her, managing to lift her gun in time to block the tentacle. Her Aura shimmered weakly and she was sent flying down a lane between containers and landed in a tumble across the pavement where her Aura finally broke.

“Coco!” Yatsuhashi shouted reaching a hand out to his leader, though that drew the attention of the Grimm that started to walk toward them. The three boys tried to get back to their feet, unsteady as they were, and saw Summer Blink into the yard behind them, her cloak covering almost all of her body aside from her left arm. She aimed her pistol at Hierophant and fired, the bullet hitting true on the Grimm’s shoulder and causing it to look at her.

“Pick on someone your own size bitch!” Summer shouted and fired again, the bullet grazing the Grimm’s black hair. It growled and started advancing on her, uncaring of Raven, Sun, and Taiyang jumping in to help the boys to their feet and away from the yard.

 _“95!”_ Velvet said as Summer started walking to the General, firing over and over again even though it was swatting the bullets with its tentacles, her eyes flitting briefly to see her group disappearing into a lane.

 _“Everyone’s clear!”_ Taiyang called through the comms.

 _“98!”_ Summer finally clicked empty just as the General was on her and got her gun hit out of her hands and got a tentacle wrapped around her neck. She was lifted off the ground, her free hand trying to pry the tentacle off, and felt it squeeze enough to break her Aura. _“Oh no, Summer!”_

 _“Shit!”_ Raven said looking back and prepared to dash out if she was needed, though she was stopped by Sun putting a hand on her shoulder. She turned to glare at him only for him to shake his head, put away his staff, and put his hands together in some kind of sign. Raven barely quirked an eyebrow when he started glowing yellow.

“And so it ends,” Hierophant said bringing Summer closer to her while the other tentacle reached up and took off its mask, revealing a mouth full of razor sharp teeth that split her cheeks when she smiled. “I hope you enjoyed the dance Huntress. You’ll make a fine meal for me.”

“Quest…ion…” Summer managed to gag out while trying to suck in air.

“No, you don’t get to choose how you die,” Hierophant preemptively answered but loosened her grip on Summer’s neck regardless.

“Wrong,” Summer said gripping the tentacle harder and glaring right into the General’s eyes. “Do you like grapes BITCH!?”

“Wha-?” Hierophant started to say just as Summer swung her cloak out to reveal a plastic bottle with the top cut off in her right hand that she swung at Hierophant, the liquid inside flying out and landing in its eyes. It dropped its mask, shut its eyes, and screamed in rage at the burning in its eyes that it let go of Summer, who grabbed the Grimm’s ragged kimono and pulled herself closer to Hierophant and flipped the bottle around in her hand in order to continue dumping the contents onto its eyes. After a couple of seconds a tentacle wiggled between Summer and Hierophant and launched Summer away, who dropped the bottle in surprise as she flew.

That was when she felt someone grab her leg and start spinning her around. When she looked down she saw a golden image of Sun that let go of her leg and threw her pistol after her before vanishing into gold dust. Summer backflipped and felt her feet hit something, grabbing her gun out of the air as she was moved away by another Sun clone that disappeared after kicking her away. She watched Hierophant writhe and wipe away at its eyes for the seconds she was in the air before she was grabbed out of the air, again seeing the golden arms of Sun wrapped around her shoulders, and hit the ground. She skid past Penny and Velvet and hit the wall of the warehouse with the Sun clone taking the brunt of the impact and vanishing, finally letting Summer settle.

“Charging complete!” Penny shouted, the orb of green light completely filling the circle of swords, “Target locked!”

“FIRE!” Summer shouted pointing at Hierophant.

“Firing main cannon!” Penny shouted and clasped her hands into fists and pulled them back. This was when Hierophant managed to clear its eyes and open it in time to _finally_ see the green light. It blinked and then sagged its body.

“Oh, son of a bi-“ was all it could get out before Penny fired a massive green beam of light that flew toward it and engulfed the top half of its body completely. The blowback from the beam knocked Velvet back and forced Summer to cover her eyes from how bright the beam was. Penny held the beam for a second before extending her index fingers and spreading her arms up and to the sides, which caused the beam to separate into two smaller beams that aimed for the hovering Bullheads and sliced through them. The beams dissipated while the bullheads split open like eggs, depositing any White Fang that had been in them screaming down onto the dock, and slowly veered to crash in the ocean with a large splash and explosion.

Penny’s swords stopped spinning and moved back behind her while Velvet and Summer started recovering while they, along with everyone else from their own places of cover, looked out to see what happened to the Creature of Grimm.

It took a few steps forward. Thankfully that was all it could do before its legs fell to the ground due to the entire top half of its body having been completely obliterated by Penny’s attack. Everyone watched for a few agonizing seconds until the legs started vanishing into black smoke.

“Target eliminated,” Penny said nodding and turning her head slightly to see Roman Torchwick on the far end of the pier. She clenched her fists a little more and started running to Roman.

“Wait, Penny!” Summer shouted and got to her feet to chase after Penny.

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Roman muttered and started running to a Bullhead that landed near him. He jumped inside, cane in one hand and a case full of Dust in the other, and looked back at Penny and Summer before shaking his head. “Damn kids,” he said and closed the door with his cane just as the ship took off and flew away from the docks, a second one trailing behind it with ultimately only the one case to show for all the effort.

Penny stopped at the edge of the pier to watch the airships, only looking back when Summer caught up out of breath and holding her knees. “They got away,” she said almost sadly.

Summer shook her head and straightened up to say, “It’s alright. We did what we could. People like him always show up again, we’ll get him next time.” Penny nodded in agreement and turned to fully face Summer while the swords folded up and stored themselves back in her backpack.

“Well, that was fun!” Penny said, her voice full of her previous cheer as she smiled at Summer.

“Sure Penny. Let me see your arm, I saw you get hurt,” Summer replied and started walking to Penny, who suddenly backed away from Summer holding the wound on her arm.

“NO!” she shouted, her voice full of panic, “I told you it’s just a scratch!”

“That’s what they always say Penny, and then they get something far worse than a ‘scratch’. Now let me see it.”

“No, I’m not hurt!” Penny shouted and hiccupped. “It’s not worth worrying about! *Hicc* I want to be alone! *Hicc*”

“Penny!” Summer shouted causing Penny to stop and stare as Summer lowered her hood and slowly moved closer. “ _I_ want to help. Let me see your arm.” Summer didn’t move any closer until Penny slowly nodded and let Summer grab her arm and move her hand away. “Thanks Penny. Wounds like this need to be treated or else they’ll get infected and… and…” Summer stuttered and stopped as she stared wide eyed at the wound on Penny’s arm.

Namely, the lack of blood and the bright silver of metal under the presumable artificial skin. Summer ran a thumb over the metal, brushing along some pieces of torn fabric along the way, and felt Penny shiver. She then looked into Penny’s face, finally seeing just how _terrified_ the girl looked.

“Summer…” She said, just as terrified as her face, and Summer stared for a moment before nodding and rolling her eyes. “I-“

“See what I mean? You’re lucky it’s not bleeding or worse,” Summer said and let go of Penny’s arm so she could draw Soleil and transform it into a dagger.

“H-huh? But I-“

“Shut it,” Summer interrupted as she pulled up her cloak until she could cut a bit of the bottom hem with Soleil and tore a strip of fabric off that was long and wide enough to serve as makeshift bandage. Summer sheathed her dagger and grabbed Penny’s arm again so she could pull her close enough to wrap the fabric around Penny’s wound. She didn’t stop until she couldn’t see even a speck of metal and tied it off and pat it gently.

“There, good as new,” Summer said as Penny stared at the white fabric and moved her arm gently. Penny looked back at Summer when she tapped her arm and added, “Maybe you should get a… well, someone qualified to look at that. Ok?”

“Y-yes, I know someone for this,” Penny answered nodding quickly and looked down at her feet. “Um, Summer…” Penny started to say only to stop when Summer to throw herself at Penny and pulled her into a hug. “Huh?”

 _“Your secrets are your own Penny, and you don’t have to share if you don’t want to,”_ Summer whispered in Penny’s ear and hugged her tighter, _“I’m just glad you were here Penny. You really saved us all.”_

The surprise on Penny’s face was slowly replaced by sheer joy that Summer, _her friend_ , said that and returned the hug while making sure she didn’t crush Summer again. “You’re welcome! I’d do anything to help you Summer. We’re friends, right?” Summer gently pushed Penny away so she could face her and put a hand on her cheek.

“Absolutely,” Summer answered with a smile, which got a large smile from Penny as she started bouncing happily.

“So…” a voice called out and both girls turned to Sun, just kind of awkwardly standing there, “I don’t really mean to interrupt your touching moment, but the cops are here and want all of us in one place. They’re also rounding up the White Fang, so our job there is more or less done. Also, WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?” Sun’s shout along with his expression as he pointed at Penny was too much and both Summer and Penny were sent into hysterics, holding each other as they laughed while Sun stared for a moment before rolling his eyes.

* * *

“You can’t be fucking serious,” Raven said dumbfounded as she held the bottle of Headlight Fluid that Penny had just given her. She and the other student Huntsmen were huddled in a small group near the entrance to the docks while patrolman ran back and forth securing the area, the Dust, and moving the White Fang soldiers they had arrested onto transport trucks. More than a couple were gawking at the craters and troughs brought about from the fight. That was all work for the police now though, so the students focused on resting and finishing their late dinners for the ones who didn’t get the chance to.

“I had the same reaction Rae. It’s twin valiantly gave its life for the cause,” Summer said, a tiny bit of false melancholy leaking into her voice, and took a bite of her sandwich. Summer, along with most of the rest of the group, laughed at the look Raven gave her before she set the bottle to the side and sank her face into her hands. Taiyang was at least gracious enough to pat Raven on the back reassuringly.

“That actually reminds me,” Summer said after swallowing and looked at Team CFVY, Sun, and Penny. “We shouldn’t talk about our… extra guest to anyone unless specifically asked about it.”

“Don’t want to cause needless panic, right?” Coco asked, getting a nod from Summer in answer. “Yeah, I can agree with that, right guys?” Coco asked as she looked at her team.

“It would be pointless, considering it’s taken care of,” Yatsuhashi answered from where he sat cross legged, “I’ll keep quiet.”

“I’m just happy to help,” Sun said giving a thumbs up before stretching his arms and tail out.

Everyone else simply nodded, Penny a little more energetically then the others.

“Thanks,” Summer nodded and smiled at them, “and you all did great tonight, no jokes or exaggerations.”

“I could have gone without the sucker punch though,” Coco said massaging one of her shoulders. “I think it tore my sweater too.”

“You’re still better off than the other guys,” Fox said with a small chuckle.

“And you totally missed Penny’s final attack!” Velvet cried hopping to her feet and gestured at Penny with her hands. “It was incredible! Like some climactic anime attack or something!”

“Aw, it was nothing,” Penny answered while bashfully grinding her boot into the pavement, which got a laugh from Coco.

“Oh my god, you’re adorable!” Coco said slapping a hand down on Penny’s shoulder, “I’ve decided it, you’ve earned a permanent spot in my ‘good people’ list. Agreed?” Coco looked back at her team and got a chorus of agreements from them and Sun, which only made Penny more bashful.

“I got to send a quick text,” Qrow said suddenly and stood up while taking out his scroll and hooking his free thumb in a pocket, “I’ll be right back Sum.”

“Sure thing Qrow,” Summer answered with a nod as Qrow walked away from the group.

“Who’s he texting?” Fox asked.

“Take a wild guess,” Summer said gesturing in the general direction of Beacon.

“Ugh, debriefing,” Raven said through her hands, “I totally forgot about that.”

“What, are you more scared of talking to Professor Goodwitch than what we did tonight?” Velvet joked with a smile at Raven.

“Shut it.”

While the group laughed and continued their small talk, Penny simply stood to the side listening and smiling until she noticed a black car pull up silently on the other side of the street. Penny recognized the car and very slowly started backing away from the group, her eyes landing on Summer specifically since she had also seen the car and looked over at Penny. The girls shared a look for a second until Summer nodded toward the car. Penny returned it and pulled away from the group and started running to the car as quietly as she could, taking a moment to wave at Summer before she opened the back door and sat inside. She shut the door and stared out the window at the group as the car started pulling away.

“You’ve had quite the night, haven’t you Penny?” the driver asked in an almost small talk fashion as they drove. “You should know better than to cause trouble like that.”

“Yes sir,” Penny answered monotonously as they rounded a corner so the docks disappeared from view. Penny turned in her seat to the driver, her hand absentmindedly running over the bit of Summer’s cloak still tied to her arm, and added, “I have a report to make sir.”

“Let’s worry about that later,” the driver answered, his eyes flitting to the rearview mirror to look at Penny, “for now, let’s just get you some rest. Your time will come soon enough.”

Penny nodded silently and gripped her arm again, already trying to figure out what to say.

* * *

Far from the events in the city, Ozpin was winding down from another busy day as Headmaster. The paperwork of the day had been taken care of and he even had gotten a head start on some for tomorrow, which he figured was a good sign to call it a night. Which, naturally, was when the Vale Police Department alerted him to an incident involving some of his students. Ozpin was used to this kind of thing happening in his time as Headmaster though, so he simply started brewing another pot of coffee and took out his scroll to watch the news.

Just in time too since the news was showing a reporter interviewing two of the students that had been involved: Summer Rose (which didn’t surprise Ozpin) and Coco Adel (which _did_ , to some extent. He couldn’t wait to hear that story.)

 _“So what led you and your teams to the docks tonight?”_ the reporter asked as a title appeared at the bottom saying ‘Dust robbery halted by local Huntsmen and Huntresses.’

 _“We just happened to be nearby when it happened. We did what any Huntress would do,”_ Summer answered.

 _“Not that it wasn’t hard to notice something was wrong, with the airships and all,”_ Coco added crossing her arms, _“they weren’t trying to be subtle about it.”_

_“Yeah, that was weird.”_

Ozpin’s scroll beeped as a new message appeared, so Ozpin closed the news and pulled up the message and saw it was from Qrow.

_‘Trouble at the docks tonight. Hierophant’s KIA (?). Queen has pawns.’_

Ozpin reread the message a couple of times so it could sink in. _‘The Hierophant was_ here? _And STRQ thinks they killed it? That doesn’t make sense, why would it be here for a Dust robbery?’_ Ozpin lowered the scroll and looked out his office window at Shattered Moon hanging in the sky. A thousand thoughts ran through his mind as he stared at it, though one in particular stood out.

“What are you up to Salem?”

* * *

_“Born an angel, heaven sent, falls from Grace are never elegant~!”_

Far away from the civilization of the Kingdoms, General Weiss was performing her first actual song in years in the concert hall of Salem’s castle. Her audience consisting only of Salem who was calmly listening with her eyes closed and her hands folded in her lap, Ruby leaning forward excitedly and drinking in every bit of Weiss’ song, and Yang eating out of a large tub of popcorn while listening. Weiss would have been disgusted by her sister’s manners in front of Salem, but she herself didn’t seem to mind.

_“Stars will drop out of the sky, the Moon will sadly watch the roses die, in Vain~!”_

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Weiss’ thoughts went to her only absent sister General, though she was sure Blake was being her usual workaholic self somewhere in the world. If she was even halfway focused on the Dust shipment Weiss had told her about it should all be well in hand. Weiss focused back on her song and put her all in the words.

 _“Lost, no gain, but you’re not taking me~!”_ Weiss lost herself in the song and couldn’t help the occasional spin in her step as she moved her hands to focus. _“You… can’t have… my life! I’m not your Sacrifice! You can try, but I’m free! And you won’t conquer me! I won’t crawl, most of all, I won’t fall… for… you~!”_

Weiss took as quiet a breath as she could while her audience applauded, Salem politely and quietly while her sisters were louder in their approval with Ruby standing up. Weiss couldn’t help the smile as she curtsied and waited for the clapping to end.

“I must congratulate you again on building this hall Generals,” Salem said once Ruby had sat back down. “A bit of relaxation now and then never hurt anyone I suppose.”

“We’re honored again by your praise Queen,” Ruby said putting her right hand on her chest in as close as she can get to a salute before looking at Weiss. “Do you have enough time for another song Weiss?”

“I could sing all day, but we should limit it to just the one,” Weiss answered running a finger over her chin guard, “any requests Queen?” Salem shook her head no, so naturally that meant one thing.

“Sing ‘One Week’ Weiss!” Yang yelled out through a mouthful of popcorn before shoving even more of it in. This time Weiss very much shared her disapproval of her sister’s horrible manners by glaring harshly at her for a few seconds before looking at Salem and Ruby, who were now simply watching Weiss waiting for her to begin. If Weiss didn’t know any better, she would have been certain Salem had a ghost of an amused smile at her plight.

Nevertheless, Weiss was trapped and had no way out of this except to sing. So she took a breath, more an annoyed huff than anything, and started. _“It’s been-“_

The doors suddenly crashed open, bringing Weiss’ momentum to a halt and drawing everyone’s attention to the doors. There they saw Blake slowly walk in, her tentacle arms dragging behind her and her kimono worn a little more roughshod than usual, and walked a fair ways into the hall until she could see Salem and her fellow Generals and stopped.

“Ow,” was all she said before falling face first to the floor.

“Blake!” Ruby shouted and shot out of her seat to Blake, Yang right behind her dropping her popcorn and Weiss hopping over to her with a glyph. They huddled around Blake and started helping her to her feet while Salem stood up to watch Yang and Ruby set her down on the chair Yang had been on. “Are you ok Blake?”

“I just fell face first onto the floor and I’m _here._ Do you think I’m ok?” Blake asked massaging her head with a tentacle.

“Well your attitude is certainly ok,” Weiss said rolling her eyes, “I thought you were supposed to be in Vale tending to that Dust.”

“I was, until we got ambushed by Huntsmen and I took a giant laser to the face. I even had to burn a Herald just to be there in person. That one’s gone for good now.”

“So your mission in Vale was a failure,” Salem summed up, her usual cold tone barely hiding disappointment.

“I wouldn’t say that Queen. The Dust may be lost and in its ‘proper’ place, but the trove of information I got should more than make up for it.”

“Wait, hold on a minute,” Ruby said holding a hand up, “You were ambushed by Huntsmen, and they actually _beat_ you? How did that happen?”

“They caught me off guard and being there through a Herald made me more sluggish than I should have been, but my defeat isn’t important.” Blake stood up, a little more steady then she was before. “The Huntsman were Academy teams, and your White Cloaked Huntress was there Ruby.”

“She was?” Ruby asked surprised and crossed her arms. “Again?”

“Ha, Blake got wrecked by a Huntress that could only run from Ruby!” Yang said laughing and holding her face in her Grimm hand, “That’s fantastic!”

“I think your twins were there as well Yang,” Blake added and smiled under her mask as Yang stopped laughing and slowly lowered her hand to stare at Blake.

“What?”

“You know, those twin bandits you let live a few years ago. Remind me again what weapons they used.”

“The girl, Raven, used a katana and her brother used a scythe,” Yang answered crossing her arms.

“A scythe? You never mentioned that before Yang,” Ruby chided and Yang simply shrugged in response.

“I always figured they died that night, but I suppose not. What a weird quirk of fate, huh?”

“Quirk indeed,” Blake said and pointed at Ruby, “because if I’m not mistaken, _your_ Huntress called me ‘Hierophant’.” That caused the remaining Generals to look at each other wide eyed.

“But… that’s Ozpin’s codename for you, isn’t it?” Weiss asked.

“It is, and I’m also sure that Yang’s girl said ‘Strength’ as well in reference to her. You made quite the impression Yang.”

“Interesting,” Salem said mostly to herself.

“But… doesn’t that mean…?” Yang started.

“The White Cloaked Huntress and her team work for Ozpin,” Ruby finished and squeezed her left arm roughly, “and he trusts them enough to tell them about _us._ ”

“That’s not good,” Weiss said crossing her arms as well, “if Ozpin finds out we’ve been getting so close to Beacon, he will act. We have to assume he already knows about Ruby from the beginning of the school year.”

“Undoubtedly he does,” Ruby agreed, “and after this, he won’t take chances. He may lock down Beacon entirely, and then-“

“Enough,” Salem spoke up, cutting any discussion between the generals. She moved closer to them and tucked a hand under Ruby’s chin as she continued, “I’ve already told you Ruby, there is no Huntress or team that could stop us, no matter how skilled they are.”

“But if they’re on the lookout for anyone working for us, they’ll-“

“Ozpin will not lock Beacon down, not with the Vytal Festival looming. The Vale Council will never let him. Cinder still has a way into the academy, no matter how vigilant Ozpin is.” Salem let go of Ruby and moved closer to the stage in thought. “Still, this new variable may be a thorn we may need to account for.”

“You have a plan Queen?” Weiss asked.

“I’ve played this game with Ozpin for longer than you’ve known him. When your opponent sends units against you, you send your own to deal with it. And given the importance of this step…” Salem turned to her Generals, looking them all over, and finished, “I want the four of you to go to Vale.”

The General’s eyes widened and they looked at each other with Yang being the first to speak with, “A-all of us?”

“Did I stutter?”

“N-no, of course not!” Yang hastily added and looked away from Salem, “it’s just… isn’t that a little overkill?”

“No. You all will assist Cinder as necessary and adjust the plan as you see fit. But _do not fail me_.”

“We won’t Queen,” Ruby answered, her face set in determination, “it’ll take some planning to make it work, but we _will_ make it work.”

“I’ll leave the particulars to you. Don’t disappoint me.” The Generals saluted Salem as she left, their eyes following her until she left and the dropped the salute.

“This is new,” Yang said planting a hand on her hip, “Queen hasn’t had all of us in one place since the Great War. She must really want this to happen.”

“Of course she does,” Blake said shaking her head, “ and White Fang operations have undoubtedly been outed in Vale, so it will be difficult for me to get close now. Even using a herald would be difficult.”

“Not even mentioning that you and I can’t use Glamour like Ruby and Yang,” Weiss added and started rubbing her chin in thought. “How can we both be there?”

“Yup, sucks to be you,” Yang said, not bothering to hide her smirk, “so I guess you’ll have to think of some other way to get in. If only it was Halloween, then you could just walk right in.”

“You’re not helping Yang,” Ruby said.

“I got it!” Weiss said suddenly with a snap of her fingers, “Our dolls!”

“Our… dolls?” Blake asked.

“Ruby and Yang could go there in person using their Glamour while we can be there by proxy using our dolls. With four people they can make an academy team and blend right in for the Vytal Festival.”

“That could work,” Ruby nodded in agreement.

“Easier said than done,” Blake disagreed shaking her head, “Belladonna is stubborn and resists my influence every time I try to exert it. The amount of scars on her arms is innumerable from her attempts to stop it.”

“You focus too much on force Blake,” Weiss said moving closer to Blake and placed a hand on her cheek, “sometimes you need to be willing to use a carrot rather than a stick. My question to you is really simple: What do dolls want more than anything?”

“What?”

“I’ll explain in full on the way to the Pools.” Weiss pulled her hand away and turned to Ruby and Yang. “Our dolls will be in Vale, we’ll make sure of that.”

“We’ll take good care of them,” Ruby said and looked at Yang, “We should get going if we want to make good time.”

“Fine with me,” Yang nodded and crossed her arms behind her head, “Vale is supposed to be great this time of year.”

“Then let’s get to it.” Weiss, Blake, and Yang nodded again and the four of them exited the concert hall. Weiss and Blake went off on their own while Ruby and Yang started going to the airship pads. It’d be too risky to use a flying Grimm to get to Vale after all.

“So Ruby, what do you want to look like while we’re in Vale?” Yang asked turning slightly to Ruby. “I already got a couple of ideas.”

“No need, I already know what I want to look like.” Ruby looked at Yang and smiled widely. “ A blast from the past, if you will.”

“Oh…” Yang said once she got what Ruby meant and smiled to match, “Evil. I like it. I can’t wait.”


End file.
